One of the biggest things i learned today (only my second day of work experience) was how hard it is to be a doctor. Not only is it a tough field to enter and endure (it takes five years at university in the UK) it is also tough when you start at a hospital. A simple day can turn hectic and tiring as patients begin to pile up and the time starts to tick by. Today i was hosted by the plastic surgery department at my local hospital, and despite initially thinking that it was having to deal with the cosmetic side i soon learned that most of the work undertaken by doctors in the field is to help patients who have had serious injuries to their body parts and to check up on them to ensure they have control of motor functions.
The day began (as i would assume begins in any other department) with a meeting of the head nurses, sisters, physiotherapists (who help patients with long term maintenance of motor functions) and doctors. Though the meeting can last from anywhere between 10 minutes to an hour, it is an important time for everyone to go over the major patients of the day and to go over anything missed from the previous day. This was followed by a quick ward tour of the patients who are kept at the hospital and to make sure they are well, along with a quick check of their dressings and wounds to ensure everything is fresh, clean and healing. Most of the injuries i witnessed in the ward were due to dog bites whereby a dog had bitten off quite a bit of the patients muscle and tissues.
This was followed by the start of the day clinic (whereby patients can be examined before and after surgery with children's trauma being first, which is officially run for an hour but can take up to two hours incase of high patient turn up followed by the adult trauma which can last up till and sometimes including the lunch hour!). All in all i was able to view dressings, checkups, stitching and various other procedures, being allowed to sit in with more than 30 patients. Some of the more interesting cases included a patient who came in with carpal tunnel syndrome and had had some surgery to help with movement. This only involved a check up of regular motor functions and ensuring that the dressing was clean so as to ensure a good and safe recovery. Another interesting case was Patient B who had recently had surgery and when came in for a check up discovered build up of tissue fluid in his thigh. This was immediately taken care of by the nurse who, using an injection, helped to draw out the excess tissue fluid from the surrounding areas (in excess of 240 mL). This also helped ensure that the patient was healthy as the tissue fluid was its normal clear/pale yellow colour as opposed to infected tissue fluid which would have been thicker and/or darker in colour.
Overall the day was quite interesting not only in that i was able to learn a lot from what i watched (including suturing, checkups, and burn wounds, along with an interesting case involving a rare disease that i shall post about in a few days) but also as i was able to see a typical day of a doctor which is full of procedures and patients, with every moment in the hospital being taken up by a certain case. It was quite relaxing to be finally home as i was able to take a load off my feet and i can only begin to imagine how hectic life will be when i become a doctor and how i'll be nearly home at the end of a tiring day!
One of the biggest things i learned today (only my second day of work experience) was how hard it is to be a doctor. Not only is it a tough field to enter and endure (it takes five years at university in the UK) it is also tough when you start at a hospital. A simple day can turn hectic and tiring as patients begin to pile up and the time starts to tick by. Today i was hosted by the plastic surgery department at my local hospital, and despite initially thinking that it was having to deal with the cosmetic side i soon learned that most of the work undertaken by doctors in the field is to help patients who have had serious injuries to their body parts and to check up on them to ensure they have control of motor functions.
This was followed by the start of the day clinic (whereby patients can be examined before and after surgery with children's trauma being first, which is officially run for an hour but can take up to two hours incase of high patient turn up followed by the adult trauma which can last up till and sometimes including the lunch hour!). All in all i was able to view dressings, checkups, stitching and various other procedures, being allowed to sit in with more than 30 patients. Some of the more interesting cases included a patient who came in with carpal tunnel syndrome and had had some surgery to help with movement. This only involved a check up of regular motor functions and ensuring that the dressing was clean so as to ensure a good and safe recovery. Another interesting case was Patient B who had recently had surgery and when came in for a check up discovered build up of tissue fluid in his thigh. This was immediately taken care of by the nurse who, using an injection, helped to draw out the excess tissue fluid from the surrounding areas (in excess of 240 mL). This also helped ensure that the patient was healthy as the tissue fluid was its normal clear/pale yellow colour as opposed to infected tissue fluid which would have been thicker and/or darker in colour.
Overall the day was quite interesting not only in that i was able to learn a lot from what i watched (including suturing, checkups, and burn wounds, along with an interesting case involving a rare disease that i shall post about in a few days) but also as i was able to see a typical day of a doctor which is full of procedures and patients, with every moment in the hospital being taken up by a certain case. It was quite relaxing to be finally home as i was able to take a load off my feet and i can only begin to imagine how hectic life will be when i become a doctor and how i'll be nearly home at the end of a tiring day!
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