Learning on the wards...
Hi,
We're now getting used to learning on the wards, although students attached to different firms seem to be having quite different experiences. Some people have been in surgery, helping with amputations and aortic aneurism repairs, and others have spent more time chatting with elderly patients with multiple medical problems. Some have had less pleasant experiences - one group watched one of their patients have a heart attack and die, despite the doctors and crash team trying to resusitate her, today.
The wards I've been in aren't too busy at the moment, and the latest I've stayed this week is 8.30, when we were on-take (our firm's turn to admit new patients). Most days I've finished before 5, although the unpredictable timing can make it difficult to make plans! At the moment, there are a limited number of patients who are suitable for me to practise examinations and history-taking on (i.e. conscious, reasonably cooperative patients who are well enough to talk or move a bit) but there is enough going on to keep me busy most of the time. I've been able to follow a patient from her admission to her discharge, clerking her myself and presenting her to the consultant on his ward round, and then taking her blood sample and sending it off for testing, and accompanying her to and exercise ECG test. There are some frustrations (for example, spending a lot of yesterday waiting for a patient to go for an ultrasound-guided pleural tap and another to go for a gastroscopy so I could watch, and then missing them while I was with another patient), but the experience is still really interesting and enjoyable. As well as watching how things are done and practising examinations, I've been able to be of some use - today there was no house officer on duty during the ward round so I could make the patients' notes. I've also got a nursing shift planned for next Friday (one of a few things that we have to complete in the 3 weeks we're with these firms), when I should be able to take some more bloods and maybe cannulate a patient or two.
Alongside the practical experience, we've had a bit of teaching - some from the doctors on our firm and some central teaching from the medical school. For example, we've had teaching on Basic Life Support and communication skills (with actors in place of patients), and some Clinical Problems teaching (today about an HIV positive patient with pneumonia). Although there's no-one checking up on how much work we do, it's useful to read up a bit in the evenings on the cases we see during the day, as it's much easier to remember facts about conditions that you've actually seen. Our consultant has also asked us to read up on a few things he's pointed out on ward rounds, and then asked questions on them aftewards, but the amount of work involved in that sort of thing is pretty insignificant compared to what we've been doing for the last 3 years. Plus, it's actually really interesting to read about the reasons that our patients are in hospital!
So I'm looking forward to getting back to the hospital after a bit of a rest over the weekend (there are A LOT of stairs between the Medical Assessment Unit on the 1st floor and General Medical wards on the 7th floor, where our patients are located!)
Bye!
We're now getting used to learning on the wards, although students attached to different firms seem to be having quite different experiences. Some people have been in surgery, helping with amputations and aortic aneurism repairs, and others have spent more time chatting with elderly patients with multiple medical problems. Some have had less pleasant experiences - one group watched one of their patients have a heart attack and die, despite the doctors and crash team trying to resusitate her, today.
The wards I've been in aren't too busy at the moment, and the latest I've stayed this week is 8.30, when we were on-take (our firm's turn to admit new patients). Most days I've finished before 5, although the unpredictable timing can make it difficult to make plans! At the moment, there are a limited number of patients who are suitable for me to practise examinations and history-taking on (i.e. conscious, reasonably cooperative patients who are well enough to talk or move a bit) but there is enough going on to keep me busy most of the time. I've been able to follow a patient from her admission to her discharge, clerking her myself and presenting her to the consultant on his ward round, and then taking her blood sample and sending it off for testing, and accompanying her to and exercise ECG test. There are some frustrations (for example, spending a lot of yesterday waiting for a patient to go for an ultrasound-guided pleural tap and another to go for a gastroscopy so I could watch, and then missing them while I was with another patient), but the experience is still really interesting and enjoyable. As well as watching how things are done and practising examinations, I've been able to be of some use - today there was no house officer on duty during the ward round so I could make the patients' notes. I've also got a nursing shift planned for next Friday (one of a few things that we have to complete in the 3 weeks we're with these firms), when I should be able to take some more bloods and maybe cannulate a patient or two.
Alongside the practical experience, we've had a bit of teaching - some from the doctors on our firm and some central teaching from the medical school. For example, we've had teaching on Basic Life Support and communication skills (with actors in place of patients), and some Clinical Problems teaching (today about an HIV positive patient with pneumonia). Although there's no-one checking up on how much work we do, it's useful to read up a bit in the evenings on the cases we see during the day, as it's much easier to remember facts about conditions that you've actually seen. Our consultant has also asked us to read up on a few things he's pointed out on ward rounds, and then asked questions on them aftewards, but the amount of work involved in that sort of thing is pretty insignificant compared to what we've been doing for the last 3 years. Plus, it's actually really interesting to read about the reasons that our patients are in hospital!
So I'm looking forward to getting back to the hospital after a bit of a rest over the weekend (there are A LOT of stairs between the Medical Assessment Unit on the 1st floor and General Medical wards on the 7th floor, where our patients are located!)
Bye!
posted by Jane Davis @ 9:35 AM
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