Wannabe Medic

So, following a duller Endocrine placement I was looking forward to being thrown right back into the thick of it at a very busy tertiary emergency department at the heart of Manchester. The way we do A&E placements is very different to how other placements are held. For a start, there aren't any outpatient clinics, there aren't any ward rounds etc. Secondly, you are assigned shift patterns for the duration of your four weeks. My four weeks will run like this: Monday - nothing Tuesday - 1700-0000 Wednesday - 1200-2200 Thursday - 0800-1600 Not including the teaching that we have every day from 4pm - 5pm and the Friday's usual themed case discussions etc, and clinical debrief and all of that. We also get the pleasure of wearing big pocketed-scrubs much to my other colleagues' envy. Placement clothes are not fun, a pain in the backside to pick out and for women - have like no pockets on a skirt. You then risk wearing your stethoscope around your neck and being ...

Following my respiratory block, I had 6 weeks placed at a DGH on an endocrinology placement. First off - let's have a little chat about DHS's: christ it was quiet. It made a very dramatic change from the busy hospital I am usually at, it was eerily quiet, there were just as many doctors (I felt), who were actually at times, bored . Despite being on AMU, one of the busier wards with a high patient turnover and a range of ages, conditions and presentations, it was actually... a bit dull. There were also two firms (two groups, with a different consultant lead) again, exhausted all the patients quite quickly. We were also given a "WOW" week; Week On Ward. This is when our whole firm was permanently on AMU, and we rotated through being on a ward round, having "history taking", or Phlebotomy / Cannulation. I was most looking forward to having my blood taking skills improve and with a total of 12 hours timetabled just for this activity, I was thanking God I had t...

So, after a few weeks readjusting, the medical school scrambling to rectify the administrative shambles that it was becoming, how was it going? Pretty good. Many people were struggling but I find that's actually because it was for the first time, requiring some of the lazier students to be proactive. Yeah, it will be worth going to that 9am ward round if you want to get to know which patients will have good clinical signs. It will be worth shadowing that doctor for 90 minutes if she observes you doing an examination in the 91st minute. It will be worth slugging it out for a little bit because when someone does need a hand, they will be willing to ask and teach you. Because of my persistence and willingness to stand around, I had the opportunity to be taught loads. Our firm teaching was mainly of a good standard too. Our firm teaching was essentially my group of 8 students either being provided bedside teaching where the doctor would find a suitable patient with clinical signs tha...

I haven't updated in a while and the reason is a simple one; I completely forgot that I even had a blog. I forgot how to do life for a bit when I was thrown into my clinical years. After a shakey few weeks, things began to settle and the rough and tumble of a busy medical students life began. If I felt time pressure before, deadlines and commitments, I was being stretched to the maximum now. My biggest confusion about this year was what an earth would we be doing this year. Hilariously, my friends and I joked about whether or not we would be on the wards at 6am. Before beginning we had the usual talk about what was expected of us: yes, turn up on time, do your portfolio, take every learning opportunity etc etc. But seriously; what was a third years timetable like and what are we meant to be doing? A couple of weeks before my first placement began, my timetable showed "Firm Teaching" 2-3 times a week for about an hour each time. [What is a firm? Where does it take p...