All entries for Monday 22 February 2016

Two Weeks on a Surgical Ward

As part of the Core Clinical Education block during the second half of our second year, each student is assigned to spend two weeks on a surgical ward. The purpose of this rotation is to see how the ward operates, speak with and examine pre- and post-operative patients, and hopefully to observe some procedures in progress. My clinical partner and I just completed our two-week rotation and it was extremely useful.

The surgical ward at our hospital was an interesting place ­ and entirely different to the respiratory ward where we'd spent most other days since the beginning of this year. For one thing, most patients in the surgical ward are more acutely unwell than those of most other wards ­ this is logical, as they've either just been operated on and are not well enough to go home, or they are in a state in which they require an operation. This presented its own challenges when finding patients who were willing to speak with us and to let us examine them, but after some investigation and detective work (and handy tip-offs from helpful doctors) we found several willing patients over the course of the two weeks.

The variation in age was also far greater on the surgical ward than the respiratory ward. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that most people with significant respiratory ailments are elderly (and many of them have a decades-long history of smoking) and that surgical candidates can be of any age. There were far more middle-aged patients to speak with (and even a few under the age of 30, which was a novelty!).

My clinical partner and I had the wonderful opportunity to observe a few different surgical procedures over the course of several days as well. Once again, I was humbled and impressed by the utter professionalism on show at all times by the staff. The surgeons, the nurses, the anaesthetists and the rest of the team all worked seamlessly together as a matter of course to ensure the very best outcomes for the patient.

On one afternoon, I was asked to help assist by manoeuvring the little camera for a routine laparoscopic abdominal procedure (this is the one where a few small holes are cut in order to minimise tissue trauma to the patient and everything is conducted using apparatuses at the end of long, thin rods). It was absolutely excellent. Not only was the surgery like an anatomy lesson come to life, but it took a while to get my head round the fact that I was actually looking in someone's living abdomen ­ I was honoured and grateful to have been given that chance. But the most rewarding part of all was speaking with the patient the next day (who was very well recovered and well enough to go home). The patient was immensely grateful for the care delivered and for having met all of the surgical staff before the procedure, and thus couldn't have been more gracious. Moments like these reminded me that sometimes the best lessons are taught outside of the lecture theatre.

John

Megan Earle : 22 Feb 2016 09:49 |  Tags: John Mbchb Student Surgical Wards Warwick Wms |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem