Monday
Here we are! Another block. These are FLYING by. Soon though we will be on our 2-week break and as much as I am enjoying third year, I can not wait. We started the day with online inductions and teaching. The perk with these being you can roll out of bed 20 minutes before and still be on time.
It did feel good to have solid teaching again, and the use of worksheets to work through helps keep the structure as well as our attention. We rotated around different CEF’s which does help too as it’s so easy nowadays to switch off when hearing the same voice constantly.
Tuesday
Tuesday was the arrival of my first day in clinical settings. I am excited by acute, and it was something I wanted to experience, as I can see myself going into acute medicine as my career.
I had a nightmare with parking though, as I had tried to park near the smaller unit in the hospital and promptly got told by security I should not be there. After pleading from me that my hip was giving me a lot of pain (true), I was waiting for a parking permit from the hospital for said hip (also true) and I was late for a Fit Test (true). I was forced to move my car and pay the inevitable £10 for the day because there were “not enough spaces for their own doctors” (false).
Anyway, eventually got to my FIT testing appointment, aaannddd failed it. It was annoying as I couldn’t just re-test. I had to book another appointment, which meant going through all my emails to find the number and somehow fit it in before my shift in resus. Great. However, I sat with my lunch outside the back of the hospital next to a lavender bush full of bumblebees to wait for my minors shift to start. Perfect.
It was worth all the stress because I had the best minors shift ever. I was put with a Warwick grad who chucked me straight in. We spent the afternoon examining both adult and child patients (RESULT) and it was truly the first time I ever felt like I was close to being a doctor. We also got to chat about Formula 1, Warwick’s quirks and training beyond med school. I was there 6 hours past my home time, but I really did enjoy it. We had an elderly couple in last, who were my favourite people ever. I have never wanted to be adopted so much 😀 They were hilarious to chat with and just a pure pleasure to treat.
Wednesday
Online teaching again today, however, just for the morning. We had teaching on SBAR which is a method of effectively communicating over the phone/ to seniors about our patients. This was handy as I was due to be on resus that afternoon. I was excited as I had never really stepped foot in Resus and was hoping to get stuck in.
It just so happened to also be the semifinals of the Europeans, in which England were playing Denmark (I’m writing this 6 weeks after this week, that maybe wrong). I thought some trauma may come in past the end of the game, so I did hang on, but Coventry behaved itself. I did get to see a couple of cool conditions such as STEMI, fall from a height and motorcycle V car. I also got to see femoral blocks, stitches to a head laceration and some extreme Jaundice. I really did enjoy my time, even if I was mainly observing.
We were joking about the Neurosurgeons not coming down to do our consult for a while being due to watching the football. Low and behold, when they did arrive they announced the latest score before they had even introduced themselves 😀
I did have a secret chuckle to myself.
Thursday
Thankfully, today was very much a day off. Luckily for me as I didn’t get back till 1:30am. I took the day to just sleep and catch up on life admin as that had been building up, so it was nice to just have a chilled out day catching up on everything.
Friday
So, technically I was meant to be in today, but I had something more important to do! My friends from the year above were having their official graduation ceremony, but wanted to get some photos to celebrate. These included my lovely medic step mum, Chris, and the formidable Ollie Burton.
They didn’t have caps or anything, and I am gutted they didn’t get a ceremony despite Covid levels being relatively low and other universities having them, so I wanted to do something special. I made them their own graduation caps from cardboard, my DT teacher probably would have fallen over at the skill I showed, made a special physician’s pledge poster and released ALL the confetti cannons !! The medical school looked like it had been visited by a confetti unicorn after but it was all biodegradable so all good!!
I really enjoyed seeing the surprised look on their faces, and I was glad they got to have something special for their last day.
I also made a video for ollie. My main goal was to get people who he has helped for free to get into Med school to send videos of thanks. Sadly, it was hard to get hold of these people and not break GDPR rules, so I ended up going on a week-long spam of peoples Twitter and Instagram timelines to get videos. I’m grateful to everyone who submitted something, and I am mega glad I got something together in the end. Safe to say, once Friday ended, I was so glad to not have to find the videos any more !
I got back in the evening, and it all suddenly hit me. My friends were all going, and I was still where I was. Part of me is very much ready to get onto the wards and work, but I am nowhere near ready. I know, however, I am done with watching people do things. I want to be hands-on, get stuck in, I just need to get people to let me be.
MedBeeMedic 