Bones, Bones, Bones

Over the last two weeks I have been very busy finishing off my protocol for my research project for third year. So, at the beginning of third year, we have this module called Student Selected Component 2, which is where we pick a research project and undertake it. As part of this, we have to write what’s called a protocol, which is basically a roadmap as to how we will undertake our project. My project is to do with Cremations in the UK and the role General Practitioners play in this process, which is slightly unusual! I am excited to start my project as it is the first piece of research I have done where the idea and execution will be entirely led by me. Slightly terrifying, but exciting too!

We also started Core Clinical Education 3, for which time period I am on placement with an Orthopaedic surgeon (bone surgeon) and also attached to maternity. The block started with a bank holiday, which is never a bad start, and then I was helping out on the Warwick Medical School open day, where myself and the other student blogger Abbie were giving a presentation on being a student here. I think this is a hugely important part of the open day and also important for students who want to come and study here. I attended an open day when I was applying to Warwick for Medicine and the presentation from the students was far and away my favourite part of the day – hearing from current students about what the course is actually like is so important when deciding if it for you. I would recommend that anyone who wants to apply to come here apply to come to the open day if you can as you will get a real insight into what Medical School is all about.

This week I also attended some clinical sessions with the orthopaedic surgeon I am attached to for the duration of this block. Orthopaedic surgeons deal with a huge range of issues, including disorders of the bones (fractures, dislocations), muscles and tendons (including sprains and tears). I went to fracture clinic on Wednesday, which is where people who think they may have fractured a bone may come to have their bones X-rayed and reviewed by one of the surgeons, who may recommend surgery or bed rest. Our consultant is amazing and really keen for us to get involved with everything, so we were sent off to talk to some patients and do some examinations. Then we presented back to the consultant and we had a look at the X-ray together, where we had to have a guess what was going on. This was really fun and was almost like being in a smaller (bone related) A+E department.

On Thursday, we attended theatre with our consultant, and were told to “scrub in”, which is where you wash your hands multiple times in a specific way and put on a surgical gown and sterile surgical gloves. This was our first time doing this so it was a little scary, but luckily, we had a friendly scrub nurse to help us and advise if we were doing everything right. Once scrubbed in, you aren’t allowed to touch anything, or even scratch your nose, so you have to distract yourself to avoid being driven mad by those little itches! Luckily, we had plenty of distractions as it was a large operation so we were able to get involved and help hold things and even help close the wound with one of the trainee surgeons (under very close supervision). I had never thought I would enjoy surgery that much, but it was great fun and very satisfying to be getting stuck in and fixing the patients problem there and then. I still don’t know what type of doctor I want to be – but you never know, I may go into Orthopaedics!

Jordan

Charlie Gallan : 18 Jun 2019 15:07 |  Tags: Jordan Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem