Fireworks are pretty.
Pretty dangerous when they are pointed in your general direction, but oh so pretty when they burst and shower sparks everywhere in the sky.
So we went to see fireworks last night as part of the Adelaide Festival, a show called "A Little More Light" which was put together by Group F of Eiffel Tower fireworks fame.
It wasn"t bad, but I wanted to see more blue fireworks. They"re just so pretty.
The morning was good as a nice group of us went into Central Market for breakfast, which was a bit of an chore as we had to somehow manage to acquire enough tables and chairs for everyone to be seated comfortably for breakfast. Naturally we managed it and eventually sat down to a very filling brunch.
Friday night was a bit of fun as a few of us went to a friend"s place and spent the night rocking out and getting in touch with our heavy metal, classic rock and poppy sides of ourselves. If only we could do the same on real instruments rather than just on a video game...
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Conservative Treatment
My intern and consultant discussed "conservative" treatment (ie. not surgery) of a patient"s prolapse today.
It was an interesting discussion because the main treatment options were:
I don"t think anything more needs to be said.
It was an interesting discussion because the main treatment options were:
- Sprinkling sugar on the prolapse.
- Taping the patient"s buttocks together.
I don"t think anything more needs to be said.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Great Exceptations
I typed the title of this post last night intending to blog about stuff, instead I ended up changing it and leaving the below post. Now I forget why I wanted to use this title.
On new housemates:
My unit is now a bustling suburban bedroom mini-community. From the first year aquaculture/marine biology students to the first year health science student to the German exchange psychology student, we"ve got it all! A friendly bunch indeed, mostly away from home for their first time, getting used to not having the roving parental eye of control over them.
On a failure of a Monday:
For the second time this rotation, a certain consultant has been away and unable to give us our eagerly awaited lecture. This is getting to be quite annoying, as they get their lecture times in advance by quite a few weeks, certainly enough to tell someone if a conference happens to be on that week...
On free food:
Ahh, O-week. With the new students coming in, the great annual welcome begins, with BBQ lunches, dinners, morning teas, afternoon teas, ice cream... All free! All it requires is a few omitted truths or small lies, and you"re free to munch away! Alternatively, you can do what I do and make use of the most important piece of information I learned on the wards: Look confident. As long as I look as if I should definitely be doing this and that it would be pure stupidity on anyone else"s part if they were to interrupt and question me about this, I can do (or eat!) just about anything.
On the gym and associated activities:
The annual free week from the gym, a time to stock up on exercise and activity to make up for the lack of these over the remainder of the year... I don"t know where I was going with this topic. All I really needed to say was that I"ve been going to the gym for the last week and now I will stop due to outrageous membership prices. Outrageous.
On surgeries and complications:
So being on the Surgery rotation, it would be expected that I should be going into theatre and seeing some interesting surgeries. Yesterday was one of those days with a laparascopic anterior resection. The initial preparation of detaching peritoneum (sigmoid mesocolon?) from the colon went smoothly enough, until the surgeon started exploring higher and managed to nick the splenic artery. This obviously wasn"t quite too big a problem as the surgeon deadpanned "Oh. No no no, don"t do that." and proceeded to clamp off the artery and asked for sutures, prodding on the nurse with an equally unexcited "Sutures, sutures, we have a bleeder." As I then expected the surgeon to cut open the abdomen due to the complication (which we were trying to avoid due to the patient being quite old and having an open surgery would make recovery a lot longer), I was very impressed with what happened next. The surgeon proceeded to suture laparascopically, which looked very difficult (much like trying to have dinner using 50cm cutlery) but it was done and the surgery was continued with no further complications. The patient looked well and in good spirits this morning. Wow.
On the musculoskeletal workshop:
Now, I don"t expect this to reach anyone that this will matter to, as I don"t believe I know of anyone placed locally in the course that actually reads this blog... I could be wrong of course, but judging by the lack of hits and the rare comments only by fellow bloggers in other areas, I"m probably quite accurate.
We had a musculoskeletal workshop yesterday, lead by a doctor who I believe gave us a spine examination session during GP week last year. It was brilliant. The notes given would have been worth their weight in gold (and a significant weight indeed) had they been given to us last year for when we were doing musculoskeletal clinical skills last year, but for now, they are just incredibly useful. These notes cover the various musculoskeletal and rheumatological examinations and include a DVD with clinical examinations. We"ve also been given an almost definite OSCE station, so that"s a good start too. For anyone who has yet to sign up or go and was considering skipping it, don"t, it"s well worth the four hours it takes (unless you"re a physio, then you know everything anyway...) and a lot of good practice too.
On expectations:
I"m not sure what I wanted to relate regarding this topic. It probably had something about the need to be in two places at once, but the consultant this week (the proper consultant, not the evil substitute one, mentioned previously... or not, that seemed to have been on a power trip as the main one was on holiday) was cordial, in fact I would say almost soft drink.
We had theatre this morning (a simple stoma reversal) followed by a tutorial on evaluation and causes of post-operative fever and presenting a surgical history. The consultant was very good actually, pushing for knowledge but not criticising the lack of it. I"m quite sure that I am seen as a moron as after a few seconds of silence and possibly a look of fear in my eyes, the consultant proceeded to answer the question given moments earlier. This consultant is also the first one to have given a set system for presenting a surgical history to a surgeon. In a nutshell (Oh help! I"m in a nutshell!): keep it simple. They don"t want to know all the "crap"* physicians care about, they just want to operate, "because honestly, its a lot of fun"*. So they just want "a history, not a bedtime story."*
All in all, an interesting week and it"s not even Friday yet!
Oh darn. SMS from Intern says Ward Rounds will start at 7:30am tomorrow. Not a good start.
* Indicates actual words/quotes from the consultant. Wonderful!
On new housemates:
My unit is now a bustling suburban bedroom mini-community. From the first year aquaculture/marine biology students to the first year health science student to the German exchange psychology student, we"ve got it all! A friendly bunch indeed, mostly away from home for their first time, getting used to not having the roving parental eye of control over them.
On a failure of a Monday:
For the second time this rotation, a certain consultant has been away and unable to give us our eagerly awaited lecture. This is getting to be quite annoying, as they get their lecture times in advance by quite a few weeks, certainly enough to tell someone if a conference happens to be on that week...
On free food:
Ahh, O-week. With the new students coming in, the great annual welcome begins, with BBQ lunches, dinners, morning teas, afternoon teas, ice cream... All free! All it requires is a few omitted truths or small lies, and you"re free to munch away! Alternatively, you can do what I do and make use of the most important piece of information I learned on the wards: Look confident. As long as I look as if I should definitely be doing this and that it would be pure stupidity on anyone else"s part if they were to interrupt and question me about this, I can do (or eat!) just about anything.
On the gym and associated activities:
The annual free week from the gym, a time to stock up on exercise and activity to make up for the lack of these over the remainder of the year... I don"t know where I was going with this topic. All I really needed to say was that I"ve been going to the gym for the last week and now I will stop due to outrageous membership prices. Outrageous.
On surgeries and complications:
So being on the Surgery rotation, it would be expected that I should be going into theatre and seeing some interesting surgeries. Yesterday was one of those days with a laparascopic anterior resection. The initial preparation of detaching peritoneum (sigmoid mesocolon?) from the colon went smoothly enough, until the surgeon started exploring higher and managed to nick the splenic artery. This obviously wasn"t quite too big a problem as the surgeon deadpanned "Oh. No no no, don"t do that." and proceeded to clamp off the artery and asked for sutures, prodding on the nurse with an equally unexcited "Sutures, sutures, we have a bleeder." As I then expected the surgeon to cut open the abdomen due to the complication (which we were trying to avoid due to the patient being quite old and having an open surgery would make recovery a lot longer), I was very impressed with what happened next. The surgeon proceeded to suture laparascopically, which looked very difficult (much like trying to have dinner using 50cm cutlery) but it was done and the surgery was continued with no further complications. The patient looked well and in good spirits this morning. Wow.
On the musculoskeletal workshop:
Now, I don"t expect this to reach anyone that this will matter to, as I don"t believe I know of anyone placed locally in the course that actually reads this blog... I could be wrong of course, but judging by the lack of hits and the rare comments only by fellow bloggers in other areas, I"m probably quite accurate.
We had a musculoskeletal workshop yesterday, lead by a doctor who I believe gave us a spine examination session during GP week last year. It was brilliant. The notes given would have been worth their weight in gold (and a significant weight indeed) had they been given to us last year for when we were doing musculoskeletal clinical skills last year, but for now, they are just incredibly useful. These notes cover the various musculoskeletal and rheumatological examinations and include a DVD with clinical examinations. We"ve also been given an almost definite OSCE station, so that"s a good start too. For anyone who has yet to sign up or go and was considering skipping it, don"t, it"s well worth the four hours it takes (unless you"re a physio, then you know everything anyway...) and a lot of good practice too.
On expectations:
I"m not sure what I wanted to relate regarding this topic. It probably had something about the need to be in two places at once, but the consultant this week (the proper consultant, not the evil substitute one, mentioned previously... or not, that seemed to have been on a power trip as the main one was on holiday) was cordial, in fact I would say almost soft drink.
We had theatre this morning (a simple stoma reversal) followed by a tutorial on evaluation and causes of post-operative fever and presenting a surgical history. The consultant was very good actually, pushing for knowledge but not criticising the lack of it. I"m quite sure that I am seen as a moron as after a few seconds of silence and possibly a look of fear in my eyes, the consultant proceeded to answer the question given moments earlier. This consultant is also the first one to have given a set system for presenting a surgical history to a surgeon. In a nutshell (Oh help! I"m in a nutshell!): keep it simple. They don"t want to know all the "crap"* physicians care about, they just want to operate, "because honestly, its a lot of fun"*. So they just want "a history, not a bedtime story."*
All in all, an interesting week and it"s not even Friday yet!
Oh darn. SMS from Intern says Ward Rounds will start at 7:30am tomorrow. Not a good start.
* Indicates actual words/quotes from the consultant. Wonderful!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Note to self:
I have to blog about the following things:
- New housemates
- Monday fail
- Free food
- Gymming
- Laparascopic Anterior Resection + complications
- Musculoskeletal workshop
- Expectations
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Fringe Go-er's Lung
Friday was a big day.
Friday morning was, as an understatement, annoying. Apparently being able to be in two places at once was a requirement for medicine, one that I seem to lack.
Friday afternoon definitely got better, with a crazy gym session that left me in quite a bit of pain (and especially now as I am typing this a day later...) but in a good way. Like when you scratch mosquito bites, even though in this context it is actually a good thing, rather than a bad thing. Perhaps I started with a bad analogy. It"s my blog, if you don"t like it, go write your own.
Friday evening was quite interesting as I went out with some friends to see the Adelaide Fringe Festival opening parade as well as the free concert. I do not recall ever seeing so many people in one place in Adelaide before, which made actually seeing the parade quite difficult. So we went and had a beer.
Following the failed parade viewing, we met up with some other friends to find this concert area. It was then we noticed that with the combination of dry heat and thousands of people, there was quite the amount of dust raised. There was pretty much a constant haze in the air that tickled at your throat and made you cough. I dare say the cigarette smoke didn"t help matters.
Being the group of nerdy medical students we are, our conversation inevitably turned back to medicine, and an amusing topic. We had previously learnt about interstitial lung diseases of amusing aetiology, such as cheese worker's lung and pigeon fancier's lung. With the amount of dust and cigarette smoke in the air, it was only a matter of time before the blame game continued and passed the cause of interstitial lung diseases to Fringe Festivals. Perhaps attendance of Fringe Festivals should be added to the "common medical problems" section of a history.
So the bands were quite interesting, a particular Canadian friend was quite taken by the rap group "Killaqueenz", laughing almost continuously at the amusing lyrics. Personally I was quite impressed by the energy of our English classmates as they danced and jumped and got lost. It really was quite amusing with the number of times we lost people.
Our overly excited, high pitched and fascist hating friend was in her element, criticising those who left early, smuggling drinks into restricted areas and making friends with random German medical students.
Eventually, we called it a night and wandered through half the city looking for an available taxi before finally managing to catch a bus back home.
The shower I had once I arrived home was heavenly, finally being able to scrub the dust and smoke off, before finally being able to fall into bed after being awake for 20 hours or so.
This morning was warm, but delicious. Oh wait, I missed a part there. The scrambled eggs with mushrooms I made for breakfast was delicious.
The trip into Central Market for groceries was a chore as the temperature had decided to skyrocket, with a good percentage of humidity.
There was a celebration going on in Chinatown, making it very difficult to get around. I"m not entirely sure what the celebration was for, but I"ve decided that it was a 1 week late celebration of Chinese New Year. Which I blame on Adelaide always being just that little bit behind the rest of the world...
Bumped into a certain colleague who was shopping with his "smaller half" as he likes to put it. I always enjoy putting links in my blog, though I never seem to be able to do it much, so a mention of him and a link to his blog (even though anyone that reads my blog most probably reads his anyway) is always fun.
Decided to have lunch in the market and finally after 2+ years of wanting to go but never actually making it, Lucia's was the place to be. It was as good as rumour had it, with a delicious bolognaise and rich, creamy mushroom sauce.
All in all, its been a good day (though very hot) and I"ve spent way more than I should have. Oh well, not every day is a weekend, gotta make the most of it!
Friday morning was, as an understatement, annoying. Apparently being able to be in two places at once was a requirement for medicine, one that I seem to lack.
Friday afternoon definitely got better, with a crazy gym session that left me in quite a bit of pain (and especially now as I am typing this a day later...) but in a good way. Like when you scratch mosquito bites, even though in this context it is actually a good thing, rather than a bad thing. Perhaps I started with a bad analogy. It"s my blog, if you don"t like it, go write your own.
Friday evening was quite interesting as I went out with some friends to see the Adelaide Fringe Festival opening parade as well as the free concert. I do not recall ever seeing so many people in one place in Adelaide before, which made actually seeing the parade quite difficult. So we went and had a beer.
Following the failed parade viewing, we met up with some other friends to find this concert area. It was then we noticed that with the combination of dry heat and thousands of people, there was quite the amount of dust raised. There was pretty much a constant haze in the air that tickled at your throat and made you cough. I dare say the cigarette smoke didn"t help matters.
Being the group of nerdy medical students we are, our conversation inevitably turned back to medicine, and an amusing topic. We had previously learnt about interstitial lung diseases of amusing aetiology, such as cheese worker's lung and pigeon fancier's lung. With the amount of dust and cigarette smoke in the air, it was only a matter of time before the blame game continued and passed the cause of interstitial lung diseases to Fringe Festivals. Perhaps attendance of Fringe Festivals should be added to the "common medical problems" section of a history.
So the bands were quite interesting, a particular Canadian friend was quite taken by the rap group "Killaqueenz", laughing almost continuously at the amusing lyrics. Personally I was quite impressed by the energy of our English classmates as they danced and jumped and got lost. It really was quite amusing with the number of times we lost people.
Our overly excited, high pitched and fascist hating friend was in her element, criticising those who left early, smuggling drinks into restricted areas and making friends with random German medical students.
Eventually, we called it a night and wandered through half the city looking for an available taxi before finally managing to catch a bus back home.
The shower I had once I arrived home was heavenly, finally being able to scrub the dust and smoke off, before finally being able to fall into bed after being awake for 20 hours or so.
This morning was warm, but delicious. Oh wait, I missed a part there. The scrambled eggs with mushrooms I made for breakfast was delicious.
The trip into Central Market for groceries was a chore as the temperature had decided to skyrocket, with a good percentage of humidity.
There was a celebration going on in Chinatown, making it very difficult to get around. I"m not entirely sure what the celebration was for, but I"ve decided that it was a 1 week late celebration of Chinese New Year. Which I blame on Adelaide always being just that little bit behind the rest of the world...
Bumped into a certain colleague who was shopping with his "smaller half" as he likes to put it. I always enjoy putting links in my blog, though I never seem to be able to do it much, so a mention of him and a link to his blog (even though anyone that reads my blog most probably reads his anyway) is always fun.
Decided to have lunch in the market and finally after 2+ years of wanting to go but never actually making it, Lucia's was the place to be. It was as good as rumour had it, with a delicious bolognaise and rich, creamy mushroom sauce.
All in all, its been a good day (though very hot) and I"ve spent way more than I should have. Oh well, not every day is a weekend, gotta make the most of it!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Thorsday!
Sometimes I wish I had a big magical hammer I could use to smash things and throw around a bit of lightning.
Today started as any other day (any other day where I wake up while its still dark anyway...) with a trip to the RGH and ward rounds. Following the ward rounds I managed to acquire the signatures necessary to lock in a patient as a CoC patient. This was exciting for a while, and I spent quite a while talking about all aspects of his care.
After hours and hours* of chatting and various examinations, I decided that I had probably done quite enough on the wards and decided it would be a good time to go home for lunch. I decided to call this "good time" lunchtime. I thought it seemed quite apropos.
Our PBL was uneventful, though very informative as one of the consultants shared a little bit of the amazing amount of information that senior medical practitioners seem to pick up along their careers.
The trouble came afterwards when I happened to bump into the registrar from the ward I am attached to at the RGH. He was quite surprised to see me, wondering why I was even at FMC. I told him we had a tutorial from a consultant. He told me that they (the RGHers) wanted to give us tutorials but could never find us. I was amused at that considering I had not seen him since midway through ward rounds. I told him that we had our scheduled classes to be at. He told me that one of the consultants at the RGH wanted to give us a tutorial, tomorrow morning at 11am. We were also to prepare a patient to present. I asked him if there was any way we could reschedule, as we had an orthopaedics tutorial at FMC at that time. He repeated that the consultant would give us a tutorial at 11am, as if there was nothing to contest, and then walked off.
I stared off into the distance, with a slightly perplexed frown which deepened into a full blown contorted look of horror as I realised I had to somehow bring this subject up with a consultant that I personally thought was more than a little frightening.
Tomorrow will be an interesting day.
*With slight error from a time dilation effect
Today started as any other day (any other day where I wake up while its still dark anyway...) with a trip to the RGH and ward rounds. Following the ward rounds I managed to acquire the signatures necessary to lock in a patient as a CoC patient. This was exciting for a while, and I spent quite a while talking about all aspects of his care.
After hours and hours* of chatting and various examinations, I decided that I had probably done quite enough on the wards and decided it would be a good time to go home for lunch. I decided to call this "good time" lunchtime. I thought it seemed quite apropos.
Our PBL was uneventful, though very informative as one of the consultants shared a little bit of the amazing amount of information that senior medical practitioners seem to pick up along their careers.
The trouble came afterwards when I happened to bump into the registrar from the ward I am attached to at the RGH. He was quite surprised to see me, wondering why I was even at FMC. I told him we had a tutorial from a consultant. He told me that they (the RGHers) wanted to give us tutorials but could never find us. I was amused at that considering I had not seen him since midway through ward rounds. I told him that we had our scheduled classes to be at. He told me that one of the consultants at the RGH wanted to give us a tutorial, tomorrow morning at 11am. We were also to prepare a patient to present. I asked him if there was any way we could reschedule, as we had an orthopaedics tutorial at FMC at that time. He repeated that the consultant would give us a tutorial at 11am, as if there was nothing to contest, and then walked off.
I stared off into the distance, with a slightly perplexed frown which deepened into a full blown contorted look of horror as I realised I had to somehow bring this subject up with a consultant that I personally thought was more than a little frightening.
Tomorrow will be an interesting day.
*With slight error from a time dilation effect
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
It"s been a long day
Ah, Matchbox Twenty...
Where was I?
Oh yes, blogging. Just to switch things up, lets Tarantino this a bit. I"m going to start with the end of this story:
I had a nap. This morning. Before lunch.
Now lets flash back to the beginning:
-fzztwhirkdsafh;gssssssooooooooooooooooo-
Waking up at while its dark is not good.
Ward rounds was uneventful, though there were some quite interesting patients (with one a possible CoC subject!), the fact that it was bloody early kind of toned down my interest.
We then attended a presentation by our very own registrar, who was amusingly anxious about the whole thing, though us students didn"t really mind, we were kind of more interested in the breakfast that was provided...
A very impressive breakfast spread it was, with sweet pastries, mini quiches, a large variety of fruits and what I"m going to call "slices of closed pizza" (otherwise known as toasted focaccia).
Afterwards I went to have a chat with one of the interesting patients, taking a history and performing a basic physical examination of all systems. As a random point of interest which came up during our conversation, we found out (despite the over 40 year difference in ages as well as residence in different states) that we had previously shared the same GP! Small world indeed...
Such a long day, in fact, I"m quite tired...
-ooooooooooooooooossssssg;hfasdkrihwtzzf-
Where was I?
Oh yes, blogging. Just to switch things up, lets Tarantino this a bit. I"m going to start with the end of this story:
I had a nap. This morning. Before lunch.
Now lets flash back to the beginning:
-fzztwhirkdsafh;gssssssooooooooooooooooo-
Waking up at while its dark is not good.
Ward rounds was uneventful, though there were some quite interesting patients (with one a possible CoC subject!), the fact that it was bloody early kind of toned down my interest.
We then attended a presentation by our very own registrar, who was amusingly anxious about the whole thing, though us students didn"t really mind, we were kind of more interested in the breakfast that was provided...
A very impressive breakfast spread it was, with sweet pastries, mini quiches, a large variety of fruits and what I"m going to call "slices of closed pizza" (otherwise known as toasted focaccia).
Afterwards I went to have a chat with one of the interesting patients, taking a history and performing a basic physical examination of all systems. As a random point of interest which came up during our conversation, we found out (despite the over 40 year difference in ages as well as residence in different states) that we had previously shared the same GP! Small world indeed...
Such a long day, in fact, I"m quite tired...
-ooooooooooooooooossssssg;hfasdkrihwtzzf-
Good mor- ITS STILL DARK OUTSIDE
Waking up and getting ready for ward rounds doesn"t feel right when the sun isn"t even ready for the day yet...
Oh well. Beach later today!
Oh well. Beach later today!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
RGH day two
Another overall good day, which is surprising because I don"t usually have two good days in a row...
An interesting ward round with some nice patients, a good mix of simple and crazy super complicated. A nice fun chat afterwards over coffee and cake (a black forest style birthday cake, yum!) and then some paperwork.
Managed to survive another scrubbing tutorial session (just because the RGH seems to prefer one of their nurses teach how to scrub, despite everyone already having done it at FMC...) without too many mishaps, and ended it all with an uneventful afternoon. Of course, I"m not sure of that last bit, since the afternoon is still going, I"m just getting ahead of myself.
Oh, exciting news! I have a new housemate! From what I"ve determined from a phone message from the Associate Dean of the Village, she is a 22 year old German student. From what I"ve determined from items in the fridge, she like anticoagulation.
I really should probably clean up the place...
An interesting ward round with some nice patients, a good mix of simple and crazy super complicated. A nice fun chat afterwards over coffee and cake (a black forest style birthday cake, yum!) and then some paperwork.
Managed to survive another scrubbing tutorial session (just because the RGH seems to prefer one of their nurses teach how to scrub, despite everyone already having done it at FMC...) without too many mishaps, and ended it all with an uneventful afternoon. Of course, I"m not sure of that last bit, since the afternoon is still going, I"m just getting ahead of myself.
Oh, exciting news! I have a new housemate! From what I"ve determined from a phone message from the Associate Dean of the Village, she is a 22 year old German student. From what I"ve determined from items in the fridge, she like anticoagulation.
I really should probably clean up the place...
Monday, February 15, 2010
The Repatriation General Hospital
First day at the repat, and it was a good one!
Great intern, friendly and very willing to teach! She taught me and a fellow student to put in a NG tube which was an experience... Especially with the 315mL of lime green aspirate...
Great RMO, friendly and laid-back! Was very relaxed and welcomed us and explained how things worked (before the intern arrived).
Great registrar, friendly and with a good sense of humour! Also very willing to teach and has already organised a teaching session with us.
We haven"t met the consultant yet who, from what we"ve heard, may be quite scary and intense, but also a good teacher.
Overall, I"m looking forward to the next four weeks, especially with the free coffee (which will be a bit of a change from FMC) and occasional breakfasts and lunches that will be provided to us!
Great intern, friendly and very willing to teach! She taught me and a fellow student to put in a NG tube which was an experience... Especially with the 315mL of lime green aspirate...
Great RMO, friendly and laid-back! Was very relaxed and welcomed us and explained how things worked (before the intern arrived).
Great registrar, friendly and with a good sense of humour! Also very willing to teach and has already organised a teaching session with us.
We haven"t met the consultant yet who, from what we"ve heard, may be quite scary and intense, but also a good teacher.
Overall, I"m looking forward to the next four weeks, especially with the free coffee (which will be a bit of a change from FMC) and occasional breakfasts and lunches that will be provided to us!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Happy Chinese New Year!
Happy 4707, 4708, 4647 or whatever year it is various groups of Chinese people think it is!
Hope everyone gets the chance to pig out on the various Chinese New Year celebration foods in whatever city you"re in!
Except Adelaide. Nothing happens here.
Oh and Valentine"s. Hope everyone is out there having fun with their loved ones, though maybe not at the same time as pigging out on various foods.
Hope everyone gets the chance to pig out on the various Chinese New Year celebration foods in whatever city you"re in!
Except Adelaide. Nothing happens here.
Oh and Valentine"s. Hope everyone is out there having fun with their loved ones, though maybe not at the same time as pigging out on various foods.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Chinese New Year's Eve!
It"s nearly Chinese New Year!
"What does that mean?" you ask?
Well clearly, it means a celebration with food and pretty colours and loud noises!
Yay!
Alternatively, its just another slow, quiet day.
Started off the day with doing the washing and a trip to the market. The market was packed with silly people wanting to see the "lion" dances. Or the "Nian" dance. Ah, traditions.
Unfortunately, this meant that customer service at the stores came to a standstill, forcing me to go elsewhere to do my shopping first and hope that things moved on when I returned. Things definitely moved on when I returned, but unfortunately some of those things were the groceries I was after. Drat.
Oh well, enough to survive the week, that"s about all that"s needed.
Maybe I should see to this "study" thing that is all the rage at the moment...
"What does that mean?" you ask?
Well clearly, it means a celebration with food and pretty colours and loud noises!
Yay!
Alternatively, its just another slow, quiet day.
Started off the day with doing the washing and a trip to the market. The market was packed with silly people wanting to see the "lion" dances. Or the "Nian" dance. Ah, traditions.
Unfortunately, this meant that customer service at the stores came to a standstill, forcing me to go elsewhere to do my shopping first and hope that things moved on when I returned. Things definitely moved on when I returned, but unfortunately some of those things were the groceries I was after. Drat.
Oh well, enough to survive the week, that"s about all that"s needed.
Maybe I should see to this "study" thing that is all the rage at the moment...
Friday, February 12, 2010
Friday! Finally!
4 weeks done, meaning that next week, I start on General Surgery at the Repatriation General Hospital.
This could be a good thing or a bad thing, I haven"t quite worked it out yet.
Today was a good day though, waking up for the first time in 3 or 4 days not feeling like absolute crap. I think this cold is finally moving on, so in the next few days I should be all good.
Made it to ward rounds on time, which is always a good start, especially when you"ve missed the last two days (illness, breast clinic) and it being the final day on this ward. The Senior Fellow was really cheerful, and usually in these cases, its a trap.
And it was.
She had decided that we would do a mini-CEX (or "mini sex" as she pronounced it) after ward rounds. Oh hooray.
Surprisingly, I did quite well. Sure, it didn"t feel like it when I was under the spotlight, with her firing question after question at me during the history. But afterwards she gave some very good feedback and gave me good marks! I received a 6, which is quite a surprise because in our introduction lecture when they explained the mini-CEX, they told us to expect the initial few to be very bad...
So I"ve been pretty happy.
This could be a good thing or a bad thing, I haven"t quite worked it out yet.
Today was a good day though, waking up for the first time in 3 or 4 days not feeling like absolute crap. I think this cold is finally moving on, so in the next few days I should be all good.
Made it to ward rounds on time, which is always a good start, especially when you"ve missed the last two days (illness, breast clinic) and it being the final day on this ward. The Senior Fellow was really cheerful, and usually in these cases, its a trap.
And it was.
She had decided that we would do a mini-CEX (or "mini sex" as she pronounced it) after ward rounds. Oh hooray.
Surprisingly, I did quite well. Sure, it didn"t feel like it when I was under the spotlight, with her firing question after question at me during the history. But afterwards she gave some very good feedback and gave me good marks! I received a 6, which is quite a surprise because in our introduction lecture when they explained the mini-CEX, they told us to expect the initial few to be very bad...
So I"ve been pretty happy.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Thursday lunch
I made fried rice!
Partly due to laziness, and partly due to having a lot of rice leftover. Well its delicious, thanks for asking.
So this google "buzz" thing is a surprise in that it just popped up, but not much of a surprise as everyone was probably expecting google to try something like this. Now it seems a lot more people have found out I have a blog. Which could be worrying...
A quick shoutout to the Daily Melbourne Spam team (Fushan, Oda, Gary -lawl, Joshua -double lawl), to That Guy, to Miiiii and the Lone Sydneyer.
So yeah, Breast Clinic was really well done. Turns out its a combined Breast/Endocrine Clinic and I sat in with a doctor that I think was the head of the clinic. I"m not entirely sure, but the way he walked into another room for a consult and introduced himself by saying "Hi, I"m Dr ___, I"m the boss here." kind of leans towards my conclusion.
Saw part of an ultrasound guided FNA, didn"t see all of it because I got called out to see some radiology of a thyroid nodule. I saw a mammogram done, and had my hand squished by a mammogram machine (a mammogrammer? or perhaps just an X-ray thing.) so I would vaguely know of how hard breasts are squished in this thing and how uncomfortable it is for the patient.
The clinic was amazingly busy! They had booked about 30 patients in just for the morning, with two doctors seeing them all. By around 11, they were about an hour and a half behind. So yeah, busy.
So yes, learnt about breast examination and performed some. Learnt some big long words I"ll have to look up at some point, and learnt about some cool techniques not approved by the FDA.
All in all a good morning.
Possibly made better that I now have some cold/flu meds which will help the afternoon, as well as getting to sleep tonight.
Yay!
Partly due to laziness, and partly due to having a lot of rice leftover. Well its delicious, thanks for asking.
So this google "buzz" thing is a surprise in that it just popped up, but not much of a surprise as everyone was probably expecting google to try something like this. Now it seems a lot more people have found out I have a blog. Which could be worrying...
A quick shoutout to the Daily Melbourne Spam team (Fushan, Oda, Gary -lawl, Joshua -double lawl), to That Guy, to Miiiii and the Lone Sydneyer.
So yeah, Breast Clinic was really well done. Turns out its a combined Breast/Endocrine Clinic and I sat in with a doctor that I think was the head of the clinic. I"m not entirely sure, but the way he walked into another room for a consult and introduced himself by saying "Hi, I"m Dr ___, I"m the boss here." kind of leans towards my conclusion.
Saw part of an ultrasound guided FNA, didn"t see all of it because I got called out to see some radiology of a thyroid nodule. I saw a mammogram done, and had my hand squished by a mammogram machine (a mammogrammer? or perhaps just an X-ray thing.) so I would vaguely know of how hard breasts are squished in this thing and how uncomfortable it is for the patient.
The clinic was amazingly busy! They had booked about 30 patients in just for the morning, with two doctors seeing them all. By around 11, they were about an hour and a half behind. So yeah, busy.
So yes, learnt about breast examination and performed some. Learnt some big long words I"ll have to look up at some point, and learnt about some cool techniques not approved by the FDA.
All in all a good morning.
Possibly made better that I now have some cold/flu meds which will help the afternoon, as well as getting to sleep tonight.
Yay!
Thursday morning
Slept in. Who cares about ward rounds right?
Its all good, I have breast clinic at 9, so I can make that and use that as an excuse as to why I didn"t go to ward rounds. Despite the reason that ward rounds started at 8...
But I"m sick!
I"m out of drugs, so I was up half the night coughing :(
Gotta go buy some hard drugs* after this clinic.
*Note: Hard drugs mentioned include something containing codeine phosphate and pseudoephedrine hydrochloride. This phenylephrine crap doesn"t do anything.
Its all good, I have breast clinic at 9, so I can make that and use that as an excuse as to why I didn"t go to ward rounds. Despite the reason that ward rounds started at 8...
But I"m sick!
I"m out of drugs, so I was up half the night coughing :(
Gotta go buy some hard drugs* after this clinic.
*Note: Hard drugs mentioned include something containing codeine phosphate and pseudoephedrine hydrochloride. This phenylephrine crap doesn"t do anything.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Wednesday, fin.
Still sick, ginger tea is starting to annoy me, but butter menthols (with honey centres!) are as delicious as ever. They also kind of help my sore and irritated throat.
So I made it into the CoC (teeheehee) introduction/tutorial.
Not the most exciting, or informative of sessions, but nice to find out that I won"t be in the state for the 2nd tutorial.
I still have to do my work though, just submit things early and liaise via email.
At least I vaguely know what to do now, just have to find a patient with a chronic illness, get consent from them and follow him/her as they are treated and attend follow-ups for 5 months. This includes visiting them in their own home, as well as visiting their GP, preferably while they are there, with a maximum of 6-8 meetings.
I take this to mean that I have to improve on my stalking skills, raising them to a comparative level of a ninja or perhaps Batman. I"ll have to hide in bushes and on stone gargoyles and the like, hoping that my patient is just like every other person in those movies and that they never look up just as I"m somehow holding myself in the upper corner of a room. Luckily the SoM has understood that we"re not all as physically active and able as others, and have given us the leeway of a maximum of 6-8 meetings. I assume that we"ll start with 6-8 credits (I guess they haven"t decided yet) and when (or if! HAHA!) we get "caught" by the patient, we"ll have to hand over a credit and continue from the last save point.
You know, now that I think about it, Continuity of Care could be quite fun, and besides, I still have that imaginary cape.
So I made it into the CoC (teeheehee) introduction/tutorial.
Not the most exciting, or informative of sessions, but nice to find out that I won"t be in the state for the 2nd tutorial.
I still have to do my work though, just submit things early and liaise via email.
At least I vaguely know what to do now, just have to find a patient with a chronic illness, get consent from them and follow him/her as they are treated and attend follow-ups for 5 months. This includes visiting them in their own home, as well as visiting their GP, preferably while they are there, with a maximum of 6-8 meetings.
I take this to mean that I have to improve on my stalking skills, raising them to a comparative level of a ninja or perhaps Batman. I"ll have to hide in bushes and on stone gargoyles and the like, hoping that my patient is just like every other person in those movies and that they never look up just as I"m somehow holding myself in the upper corner of a room. Luckily the SoM has understood that we"re not all as physically active and able as others, and have given us the leeway of a maximum of 6-8 meetings. I assume that we"ll start with 6-8 credits (I guess they haven"t decided yet) and when (or if! HAHA!) we get "caught" by the patient, we"ll have to hand over a credit and continue from the last save point.
You know, now that I think about it, Continuity of Care could be quite fun, and besides, I still have that imaginary cape.
Wednesday
Today isn"t much better.
Woke up at 6:30am to get ready for ward rounds. Decided that it was a bad idea and sent a message to one of the interns letting him know there was no way I was going to make it. I promptly fell back asleep and have just gotten up, wondering where my immune system went. I swear I"m supposed to feel better over time... I can"t really say this with any certainty though, since IMD sort of flew by in a blur...
Time for lunch, and then to figure out whether I feel up to making it into uni for a "Continuity of Care" orientation and tutorial session.
Bleh.
Woke up at 6:30am to get ready for ward rounds. Decided that it was a bad idea and sent a message to one of the interns letting him know there was no way I was going to make it. I promptly fell back asleep and have just gotten up, wondering where my immune system went. I swear I"m supposed to feel better over time... I can"t really say this with any certainty though, since IMD sort of flew by in a blur...
Time for lunch, and then to figure out whether I feel up to making it into uni for a "Continuity of Care" orientation and tutorial session.
Bleh.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Bleh.
I feel like crap. Sore throat, couldn"t sleep, muscle aches.
Hopefully its just viral and will die down soon.
So I"m taking the afternoon off. I"m going to make myself a nice yummy lunch and have a nice long sleep.
I managed to go to ward rounds this morning, which was good fun because it seems like half the patients are being discharged today. Unfortunately we had a MDT (multi-disciplinary team) meeting today and from lack of seats, I was seated in the front row, alongside all the consultants and senior consultants.
If you haven"t been to an MDT meeting before, picture this:
A nice quiet room, the soft hum of a computer and projector, main lights are off and instead you bask in the nice warm glow of a projected contrast CT image of a patient"s lower abdomen. Beside that is a large LCD screen displaying a beautifully colourful slide, a slice of the vague metastatic growth from said abdomen.
As the drone of the radiologist slowly relaxes you, you fight.
You fight with all your will because you know the consultants have to turn to look past you in order to make eye contact with the radiologist, for politeness" sake, as well as to get his attention to ask questions, or he may go on forever.
Suddenly, out booms the voice of a certain anatomist/histologist we shall call "TT". His golden voice rings throughout the room, conjuring to mind a majestic and brave lion or perhaps an overly tanned well build older man.
"Yes!" you think to yourself, "I can"t possibly fall asleep with him talking!" But as your eyes droop, you realise far too late that histology is and has always been a trap. Luring you in with pretty colours and golden voices, it takes you and leads you, like a child, with wide eyes questioning all. But just like a child, you grow weary of such opulence, not understanding the point behind it all. Your eyes close, you sleep. Until the new day dawns.
Or at least until you start driving a pen into your leg because you really, really, really don"t want to be falling asleep in front of everyone. Really.
Hopefully its just viral and will die down soon.
So I"m taking the afternoon off. I"m going to make myself a nice yummy lunch and have a nice long sleep.
I managed to go to ward rounds this morning, which was good fun because it seems like half the patients are being discharged today. Unfortunately we had a MDT (multi-disciplinary team) meeting today and from lack of seats, I was seated in the front row, alongside all the consultants and senior consultants.
If you haven"t been to an MDT meeting before, picture this:
A nice quiet room, the soft hum of a computer and projector, main lights are off and instead you bask in the nice warm glow of a projected contrast CT image of a patient"s lower abdomen. Beside that is a large LCD screen displaying a beautifully colourful slide, a slice of the vague metastatic growth from said abdomen.
As the drone of the radiologist slowly relaxes you, you fight.
You fight with all your will because you know the consultants have to turn to look past you in order to make eye contact with the radiologist, for politeness" sake, as well as to get his attention to ask questions, or he may go on forever.
Suddenly, out booms the voice of a certain anatomist/histologist we shall call "TT". His golden voice rings throughout the room, conjuring to mind a majestic and brave lion or perhaps an overly tanned well build older man.
"Yes!" you think to yourself, "I can"t possibly fall asleep with him talking!" But as your eyes droop, you realise far too late that histology is and has always been a trap. Luring you in with pretty colours and golden voices, it takes you and leads you, like a child, with wide eyes questioning all. But just like a child, you grow weary of such opulence, not understanding the point behind it all. Your eyes close, you sleep. Until the new day dawns.
Or at least until you start driving a pen into your leg because you really, really, really don"t want to be falling asleep in front of everyone. Really.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
There's a fine, fine line...
Big day yesterday!
Had a nice sleep in (9am! Wow!) after staying up until 1am playing 4-player Super Mario Bros. on Wii. Sat around browsing the internets for random things for an hour or so before deciding it was probably time for breakfast. I threw together some goodness (ham, mushrooms, basil, chives, iggs) into a pan and a magical omelette appeared. It was magical.
Started transferring my little assorted notes taken on ward rounds into my computer. Took a lot longer than I expected, as I have horrible writing, partly due to my rush to get the information down, partly due to having nothing to adequately brace my pad on, and partly due to my own mutant inability to write legibly.
Finally noticed the time and after a warp speed shower, threw together a ham/cheese sandwich and rushed out to get to the city, where a group of us saw Avenue Q!
It was amazing!
I"ve been listening to the soundtrack now for a few hours, with my favourite song in the title above. Personally, I still liked Wicked better, partly due to the easier sung songs (yes, I like to sing, despite having the vocal range of a deaf mute bear), but Avenue Q had very memorable moments (and one in particular that cannot be unseen...) and was hilarious.
Went to a friend's place afterwards for a house-warming, which was really good. Had okonomiyaki, cold rolls, and beer/cocktails/wine/mead (yes, mead!). Good food, good drinks, good company, what more can you ask for? An amusing quote? Yes, that was done too. An amusing period of confusion as a friend on the phone was confused as to the people that were at the party. Ah, good times.
[EDIT: I forgot to mention the dessert! Banana cake with a cream cheese/icing sugar icing, with ice cream covered in chocolate flavoured topping, chocolate and rainbow sprinkles!]
So now its Sunday, I have minimal work done, I have washing to do, cleaning to do, music to listen to. So much to do, so little time...
Maybe if I sit here for a while, things will just go away...
A fine, fine line between reality and pretend.
Had a nice sleep in (9am! Wow!) after staying up until 1am playing 4-player Super Mario Bros. on Wii. Sat around browsing the internets for random things for an hour or so before deciding it was probably time for breakfast. I threw together some goodness (ham, mushrooms, basil, chives, iggs) into a pan and a magical omelette appeared. It was magical.
Started transferring my little assorted notes taken on ward rounds into my computer. Took a lot longer than I expected, as I have horrible writing, partly due to my rush to get the information down, partly due to having nothing to adequately brace my pad on, and partly due to my own mutant inability to write legibly.
Finally noticed the time and after a warp speed shower, threw together a ham/cheese sandwich and rushed out to get to the city, where a group of us saw Avenue Q!
It was amazing!
I"ve been listening to the soundtrack now for a few hours, with my favourite song in the title above. Personally, I still liked Wicked better, partly due to the easier sung songs (yes, I like to sing, despite having the vocal range of a deaf mute bear), but Avenue Q had very memorable moments (and one in particular that cannot be unseen...) and was hilarious.
Went to a friend's place afterwards for a house-warming, which was really good. Had okonomiyaki, cold rolls, and beer/cocktails/wine/mead (yes, mead!). Good food, good drinks, good company, what more can you ask for? An amusing quote? Yes, that was done too. An amusing period of confusion as a friend on the phone was confused as to the people that were at the party. Ah, good times.
[EDIT: I forgot to mention the dessert! Banana cake with a cream cheese/icing sugar icing, with ice cream covered in chocolate flavoured topping, chocolate and rainbow sprinkles!]
So now its Sunday, I have minimal work done, I have washing to do, cleaning to do, music to listen to. So much to do, so little time...
Maybe if I sit here for a while, things will just go away...
A fine, fine line between reality and pretend.
Friday, February 5, 2010
FIGJAM
A nice and early finish today, which is great for a Friday. Nothing worse than hanging about all afternoon wishing you could be out doing... stuff...
Yeah.
So a very exciting ward round today, especially one patient who seemed to have actually* had every possible medical problem previously. She was in high spirits though, despite the pain and it seemed that she needed blood taken for random tests (specifically FBC, EUC, Coags and LFTs). Being the great blood thief that I am, the task was left to me.
So as the ward round continued on as I was set loose on the ward looking for tools of the trade, being tempted by the copious amounts of food left out in the open...
The patient being a nurse, as well as having a rare blood condition (essential thrombocythemia!) was very used to taking blood and having blood taken from her (amusingly, a name I recognised in her history was her haematologist, a past lecturer and course coordinator with the initials BK...). She happily consented to my thievery of her blood and decided that as I looked quite amateurish (despite me taking the time to prepare my "confident face"), would talk me through it. I started by asking her to sit down and expose a preferred arm for me, which she obliged, showing me the one vein she liked to call "old faithful" (right arm, cubital fossa). She confidently stated that there was no chance of missing it, and I gave a polite little laugh, all the while thinking that she"ll probably regret challenging me like that...
Surprisingly, she was right.
After marvelling at my choice of instruments (butterfly + vacuum) and allowing me to alcoholerise her skin, I waited the customary few seconds for complete dryness and dove straight in. Immediate flashback. I somehow managed to maintained my "confident face" instead of reverting to my "shocked face" and started plugging in the tubes, one at a time, starting with the coags (yes, must remember that...). I started to wonder whether I had struck an artery, as each of the tubes filled in approximately 2.4 seconds. I then realised how nice it is taking blood from a (relatively) healthy and young woman, rather than a ninety-something old man with calcified veins and powder for blood.
After that was all done, she congratulated me and stated that it was wonderfully done, handing me her imaginary "FIGJAM" cape. As I hadn"t heard that term before, I had to ask her what that was, and the answer made me feel a lot more confident for the future.
FIGJAM.
* as opposed to those interesting patients who just think they"ve had every possibly medical problem previously...
Yeah.
So a very exciting ward round today, especially one patient who seemed to have actually* had every possible medical problem previously. She was in high spirits though, despite the pain and it seemed that she needed blood taken for random tests (specifically FBC, EUC, Coags and LFTs). Being the great blood thief that I am, the task was left to me.
So as the ward round continued on as I was set loose on the ward looking for tools of the trade, being tempted by the copious amounts of food left out in the open...
The patient being a nurse, as well as having a rare blood condition (essential thrombocythemia!) was very used to taking blood and having blood taken from her (amusingly, a name I recognised in her history was her haematologist, a past lecturer and course coordinator with the initials BK...). She happily consented to my thievery of her blood and decided that as I looked quite amateurish (despite me taking the time to prepare my "confident face"), would talk me through it. I started by asking her to sit down and expose a preferred arm for me, which she obliged, showing me the one vein she liked to call "old faithful" (right arm, cubital fossa). She confidently stated that there was no chance of missing it, and I gave a polite little laugh, all the while thinking that she"ll probably regret challenging me like that...
Surprisingly, she was right.
After marvelling at my choice of instruments (butterfly + vacuum) and allowing me to alcoholerise her skin, I waited the customary few seconds for complete dryness and dove straight in. Immediate flashback. I somehow managed to maintained my "confident face" instead of reverting to my "shocked face" and started plugging in the tubes, one at a time, starting with the coags (yes, must remember that...). I started to wonder whether I had struck an artery, as each of the tubes filled in approximately 2.4 seconds. I then realised how nice it is taking blood from a (relatively) healthy and young woman, rather than a ninety-something old man with calcified veins and powder for blood.
After that was all done, she congratulated me and stated that it was wonderfully done, handing me her imaginary "FIGJAM" cape. As I hadn"t heard that term before, I had to ask her what that was, and the answer made me feel a lot more confident for the future.
FIGJAM.
* as opposed to those interesting patients who just think they"ve had every possibly medical problem previously...
Thursday, February 4, 2010
A brand new da- team.
So the wards have been abuzz with the changing of the guard, which started yesterday, and was probably supposed to end too, but we"re still missing our RMO...
Luckily, we have a temporary RMO, who"s here for one day. That must feel weird, working a job for one day...
Our Senior Fellow is with us now though, which is great! She"s an amazingly focused woman, but also able to joke. Best of all, she actually teaches us! She had me listen to some lungs, she quizzed us on some x-rays and CTs, and taught us a heap of presentations and treatments, some of which I even managed to write down so I can type them up later... Lunch break for now though, then off to read some anaesthetical things...
Luckily, we have a temporary RMO, who"s here for one day. That must feel weird, working a job for one day...
Our Senior Fellow is with us now though, which is great! She"s an amazingly focused woman, but also able to joke. Best of all, she actually teaches us! She had me listen to some lungs, she quizzed us on some x-rays and CTs, and taught us a heap of presentations and treatments, some of which I even managed to write down so I can type them up later... Lunch break for now though, then off to read some anaesthetical things...
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Rotation 1 - Surgery - Day 1
Alright, so its 2 weeks past my first day of 3rd year, and I"m typing this on Wednesday, but Monday was such a productive day that I"ll have to talk about it.
While I"m at it, I"ll talk about today as well. Tuesday should be stricken from the history books though.
Monday, a beautiful morning, a smooth transition from waking up to ward rounds.
Always a good start, but it would get better. The ward rounds went smoothly, lots to learn but also lots learnt. Coffee break was a great change from our usual routine (no coffee), a nice treat from our Registrar, who has moved on to greener pastures (or maybe not... Modbury?).
I topped off the morning with a nice and easy bit of blood thievery, using for the first time a butterfly needle/vacuum tube. Left handed. Without a spoon.
Tuesday. Bleh.
Wednesday, today, a good morning which started with great anticipation, as the great handover would occur. Our new Registrar managed to find us, but our RMO was nowhere in sight. Luckily her pager was available. Sitting on the computer in front of us. Convenient, but understandable as they apparently have a full day orientation session. Probably high ropes and lots of clapping and laughing (yes, that is an inside joke, but you can laugh with me anyway whoever you are reading this).
So after about 30 minutes our Registrar left us, leaving the ward round to 2 interns, a GEMPIV and 3 GEMPIIIs. Big G* was eventually left behind, getting some paperwork done leaving Dr T* to lead the team. For amusement"s sake, I began to write "Colorectal Ward Rounds - Dr T* & Team" in the patient notes, half hoping that he would be called out, leaving us medical students to continue the ward rounds, perhaps flounder and drown. Moments later, Dr T"s pager pinged.
Unfortunately, we weren"t to be left to our own ward rounds. A patient on the wards had the Met team called, which gave us the chance to see what happens in a real Met call. Nowhere near the excitement of television, but interesting anyway.
To top off a fun morning, there were brownies in the intern room.
Ah, good times.
*Note: Names used are not their real names, but amusing replacements which the author has made up on the spot. They amuse me.
While I"m at it, I"ll talk about today as well. Tuesday should be stricken from the history books though.
Monday, a beautiful morning, a smooth transition from waking up to ward rounds.
Always a good start, but it would get better. The ward rounds went smoothly, lots to learn but also lots learnt. Coffee break was a great change from our usual routine (no coffee), a nice treat from our Registrar, who has moved on to greener pastures (or maybe not... Modbury?).
I topped off the morning with a nice and easy bit of blood thievery, using for the first time a butterfly needle/vacuum tube. Left handed. Without a spoon.
Tuesday. Bleh.
Wednesday, today, a good morning which started with great anticipation, as the great handover would occur. Our new Registrar managed to find us, but our RMO was nowhere in sight. Luckily her pager was available. Sitting on the computer in front of us. Convenient, but understandable as they apparently have a full day orientation session. Probably high ropes and lots of clapping and laughing (yes, that is an inside joke, but you can laugh with me anyway whoever you are reading this).
So after about 30 minutes our Registrar left us, leaving the ward round to 2 interns, a GEMPIV and 3 GEMPIIIs. Big G* was eventually left behind, getting some paperwork done leaving Dr T* to lead the team. For amusement"s sake, I began to write "Colorectal Ward Rounds - Dr T* & Team" in the patient notes, half hoping that he would be called out, leaving us medical students to continue the ward rounds, perhaps flounder and drown. Moments later, Dr T"s pager pinged.
Unfortunately, we weren"t to be left to our own ward rounds. A patient on the wards had the Met team called, which gave us the chance to see what happens in a real Met call. Nowhere near the excitement of television, but interesting anyway.
To top off a fun morning, there were brownies in the intern room.
Ah, good times.
*Note: Names used are not their real names, but amusing replacements which the author has made up on the spot. They amuse me.
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