First week

Well, the first week of placement went well...eventually. On Monday, it was kind of a "what the hell am I supposed to do" event whereas the rest of the week was enjoyable.

Monday, as I said, just spent the day wandering around the hospital and having talks on all sorts of things, really started to worry about what we are supposed to be doing!

Tuesday, things got better, went to a drug rep free lunch and got lots of post-its and pens. Our consultant had a go at the Pfizer rep for saying that Lipitor (Atorvastatin) is clinically significant at 3 months but statistically significant at 6 months, which he says is impossible.

Then had a free afternoon so booked ourselves into A&E for the afternoon, which must have been the most quiet A&E ever! Only about 15 patients in 5 hours, though the nurses did tell us off for saying it was quiet; they didn't want us cursing their ED. Some really nice people in this hospital, which make a change from the "oh no, not medical students.." attitude that i've come accross many times before in the bigger hospitals.

Weds, thing we observed lots of procedures here, which was a good experience. At one point the consultant shouted at me "quick, get some gloves on and help!" which felt cool. The other member of my group was holding the patient to the bed which I was making sure the wires weren't ripped out of the gastroscope!

Thurs, went to GPs, who modify their surgery to have double length appointments while we are in clinic with them. Saw some interesting cases again, including a young girl who wanted contraception (Gillick competence issues, her mother wasn't there), a woman who thought she was going through the menopause, to which I had no clue what to ask, a man with musculoskeletal/?cardiac chest pain and a young woman my age with otitis externa. A good day our GPs are friendly and really good doctors.

Friday, our Academic half day, not much, but did some more BLS training and learned how to resuscitate an intubated patient and how to use a bag and valve mask instead of mouth to mouth.

So a good week. Have a few days off next week so should be able to get into A&E, theatre, Radiology, etc and have some more fun!!!

Looking after your own

I had an X-ray a while ago, and as a result I have just been diagnosed with a chest condition. Namely Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. For the medically minded among you, I am not, and never have, smoked. I am not in my late sixties or early seventies.

I am 20.

So why do I have the tell-tale hyperinflated lungs which are so stongly associated with the condition?

I hope to have all these questions, and more, answered when I go to see the thoracic medicine consultant in a few weeks time. But will he look after me?

I read months ago in the studentBMJ an article from a like-minded student who thought that we (medical students or any other health-care professional for that matter) should get preferential health-care treatment - a kind of "look after your own" mentality. And why not? I'm on full time placement - any missed time could cost my learning dearly. I have to travel 20/30 miles to get to the hospital from my placement (which seems ironic, as I live about 10 metres from the nearest hospital). I want to be seen quickly so I can be treated and get this business sorted out.

A few years ago, my grandad had a collapsed inter-vertebral disc. My auntie was an ICU nurse at the time. Lots of anaesthetists work on ICU, so it's fair to say that she knows lots of them. When grandad needed his operation he was fast-tracked through the system because of my auntie's "connections." It could be argued that this kind of behaviour is outrageous. I can see the point that a more needy person may be being robbed of their life-saving operation because people want to get their friends sorted out first. But that's probably because i've been listening to two years worth of "managing resources" lectures.

Do I tell the consultant that i'm a medical student when I walk through the door? Or do I wait until the end-of consultation pleasantries when he/she asks me what my job is? Either could be risky.

Oh well.