Acute Block

This week we started Acute block which is our 6-week placement where we experience A+E (Accident and Emergency), AMU (Acute Medical Unit) and ITU (the Intensive Care Unit). Over the six weeks we have two shifts on A+E Majors (what they like to call “big sick”), one on Resuscitation (very unwell patients), some time on ITU and AMU wards. This week was week 1 and neither I nor my clinical partner were timetabled any shifts, which gives us a nice opportunity to settle into the block and remind ourselves of some actual physical medicine first!

On Monday we had induction from the block lead, who is one of the A+E consultants over at Warwick Hospital. This was exciting and also terrifying because we were told of some of the extreme things that we may experience during this block – including cardiac arrests and potentially helping out with CPR. While this is a very scary prospect, I do teach CPR to other medical students, so at least I’m somewhat prepared. Despite this experience, I am sure that actually having to do CPR on a real person for the first time will be daunting and probably something I will always remember. Let’s see what the block brings!

On Tuesday we had lectures on the A-E approach and trauma. The A to E approach is a way of assessing a very unwell patient where A stands for Airway, B for Breathing, C for Circulation, D for Disability and E for Exposure. These are meant to be done in order, so you look at the airway first, then assess breathing etc. This approach is something that we were taught last year, but the standards are a lot higher now that we are third years. We also had a lecture on trauma (complete with grisly pictures!) and how to manage this. UHCW (the main hospital for Warwick Medical School) is also a Major Trauma Centre, so you can often hear the helicopters landing with a trauma call. A+E and trauma are aspects of medicine I am keen to explore as potential career options, not that I wish there to be any major traumas during my placement!

On Wednesday we had our first session in the simulation suite at Warwick Hospital. Simulation is quite new to medical education in general, but it can be a very useful and safe way of learning what to do in clinical scenarios. The patient for these sessions is “Sim-Man” which is a rubber mannikin hooked up to a computer. This mannikin is amazing with the things it can do – it breathes, can blink, can make noises and even has pulses! The operator on the computer can even make it breath with a wheeze. The session was facilitated by a Consultant Anaesthetist who also gave us a quick lecture on prescribing fluids, and then we were into the room with Sim-Man. My scenario was a patient who was on Morphine for pain and then his breathing was slowing down. Added to this, he had low blood sugar. It was quite stressful trying to remember how to treat the Morphine overdose and what to administer to raise his blood sugars, but helpfully I had two other medical students who were my “Assistants” and were helping me to assess and treat the patient. Overall it was one of the most useful things I’ve done here and actually seemed quite realistic. The only difference was that Sim-Man is made of plastic…

Hattie Trigg : 05 Mar 2020 12:42 |  Tags: Jordan Mbchb Patients Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem