A brief update

So I'm done my medicine rotation. It was a good experience. I learned a lot (though not enough), and had a good time (mostly). Then I took a week off and went to Scotland with my cousin, which was good. I made it all the way up to Loch Ness, saw a bunch of castles, and slept in some pretty interesting hostels. I also got to meet up with one of my former profs, who's now teaching in Glasgow. I got a personalised tour of the anatomy dept at Glasgow Uni, and saw some of the Hunterian collection. Cool! (For the uninitiated, this is a 300 year old collection of preserved, dissected body parts in quaintly labelled jars). Cool!

Anyway, medicine was good. I hung out with the HOs a lot (interns), sat in on clinics, watched endoscopies, and did call in A&E. I learned how to take blood (venous and arterial), insert catheters, write progress notes. I brushed up on my physical exam skills, and interviewed patients.

Most of the docs I worked with were really cool, knew a lot, and taught me a great deal. Many of them were enthusiastic about teaching and making sure I was learning what I needed to learn. Unfortunately, a few of them taught me a great deal about how NOT to be a doctor.

But it was a learning experience. I only hope that the stresses and demands of my training and professional life won't push me to forget these lessons; that the doctors who actually listened to their patients, read the notes, and talked to their patients are the ones I want to be like.

I've moved on to surgery, and in an unfortunate schedulling oversight, the two consultants on the GI firm I'm attached to are both on vacation. For two weeks. Out of the three I'm assigned to their firm. So I'm having to work to figure out what I'm going to do every day. Yesterday I spent the day in A&E. Today, it's a blogging study day. Tomorrow, I'm going to theatre to observe anything I can.

Ugh. The joys of rotating in the summer. In other interesting news, today is the first day the new HOs start work. So I am in the interesting position of knowing more of how the hospital works than the docs who are supposed to be supervising me. Fun.