Are we there yet? - (NHS WE Day 3)
Today was my third and penultimate day of work experience at my local hospital and with the NHS. Having already seen the doctor and followed him around the wards and at the trauma clinic i was able to join a physiotherapist and some junior doctors to see what life was like for them.
Firstly i set off with one of the physiotherapists, who works with patients who have had hand, leg or back injuries (including surgery) to ensure their motor skills are recovering and to help them regain their physical abilities. Physiotherapists are also important as they have a major say in the discharge of patients (in my speciality at my local NHS hospital) as medically a patient may have been fine, however physiotherapists deal with the physical abilities of the patient which may be slow in recovery and thus the patient may not be able to be discharged. Physiotherapists study for about three years before beginning rounds on the wards, and can specialize as chest, muscle/skeletal, respiratory, paediatrics or plastics physiotherapists (among other fields) or they can choose to be general and help different kinds of patients recover from different injuries. I was also able to join the physiotherapist in a few of her meetings with patients, whereby she helped them to sit up and breathe deeply so as to ensure the alveoli were getting maximum amounts of air (and oxygen) and to prevent the lower alveoli (in the bottom part of the lungs) from being squashed due to the patient being sat in a chair all day.
I was also able to follow junior doctors around and see how they take notes and the extensive amount of information that is asked by doctors to patients and then put into notes. Patients age, occupation, illness, specific details of injury, allergies, medication and smoking/alcohol intake are all considered and added to the notes. Finally i was able to sit in on a suturing whereby the doctor cleaned the wound, used skin mark pen to mark the area he was taking a sample from, took a sample of skin (for histopathology) and then stitched it back with the stitches going parallel to natural creases so as to hide the scars better. Thus ended my final day at the hospital, following a doctor around helping bring my experience at the hospital to an interesting close.
Firstly i set off with one of the physiotherapists, who works with patients who have had hand, leg or back injuries (including surgery) to ensure their motor skills are recovering and to help them regain their physical abilities. Physiotherapists are also important as they have a major say in the discharge of patients (in my speciality at my local NHS hospital) as medically a patient may have been fine, however physiotherapists deal with the physical abilities of the patient which may be slow in recovery and thus the patient may not be able to be discharged. Physiotherapists study for about three years before beginning rounds on the wards, and can specialize as chest, muscle/skeletal, respiratory, paediatrics or plastics physiotherapists (among other fields) or they can choose to be general and help different kinds of patients recover from different injuries. I was also able to join the physiotherapist in a few of her meetings with patients, whereby she helped them to sit up and breathe deeply so as to ensure the alveoli were getting maximum amounts of air (and oxygen) and to prevent the lower alveoli (in the bottom part of the lungs) from being squashed due to the patient being sat in a chair all day.
I was also able to follow junior doctors around and see how they take notes and the extensive amount of information that is asked by doctors to patients and then put into notes. Patients age, occupation, illness, specific details of injury, allergies, medication and smoking/alcohol intake are all considered and added to the notes. Finally i was able to sit in on a suturing whereby the doctor cleaned the wound, used skin mark pen to mark the area he was taking a sample from, took a sample of skin (for histopathology) and then stitched it back with the stitches going parallel to natural creases so as to hide the scars better. Thus ended my final day at the hospital, following a doctor around helping bring my experience at the hospital to an interesting close.
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