Obstetrics, Gynaecology and So Much More…

In our fourth clinical rotation, my clinical partner and I are focusing on obstetrics and gynaecology for the next six weeks. It’s a very interesting lead-in from the paediatrics block, although in some ways it might make more sense for us to have done this block first – paediatrics focuses on (among many other things) babies once they’re in the open air, whereas O&G looks at them from conception through birth. But of course we have already learned a lot about both topics anyway in previous years and this is just getting stuck in more deeply. Block 5 in our first year specifically focused on reproduction and child health, and Warwick’s spiral curriculum means that we are (as always) building on knowledge that we have already gained. Needless to say, I’ve spent a lot of time revising hormone axes and reproductive anatomy from year one!

So far, a lot of our time has been spent in clinics and in teaching, and we are seeing a lot. It’s good to spend some time seeing a variety of gynaecological presentations, especially because the sensitivity of the presentation means that our opportunities to learn from observation in real life have been limited in the past. We’ve seen a lot of textbooks and Power Point presentations. Gynaecological details can be very personal, but of course they are an important part of medicine and so it’s really helpful that we’re getting such exposure throughout this block.

We don’t just pay attention to gynaecological health, of course. Our block also focuses on obstetrics (the health of pregnancy and childbirth) and sexual health as well. Obstetrics is a fascinating part of medicine to me for many reasons. Foetal embryological development plays such an important role in our health throughout our lives. We saw some childbirth and midwifery in our second years, but that was five days in total – this is six weeks, complete with very well-defined learning outcomes and lots of focused teaching. And at the risk of sounding obvious, being born is literally the most common human condition – everyone goes through it. The maternal-health aspect fascinates me as well – when I hear about some of the conditions that some women present with, it makes me grateful that we live in an age of modern medicine. Even one hundred years ago, lots of these conditions could have been a death sentence.

As mentioned above, we also look at sexual health and have spent some time in genito-urinary medicine (GUM) clinics. This is an area that I’ve been interested in for years – and maybe after qualification I will try to pursue it as a career. Dealing with presentations in this area is a fine art. Since it’s so personal, it’s necessary to be extremely sensitive and ensure that you have a patient’s trust at all times. But of course clinicians can’t be embarrassed or ashamed of discussing intimate details with patients. It’s all part of the (very interesting!) job. All of the people I’ve worked with so far have been models of professionalism, and I hope to be the same when in their position. I’m really looking forward to seeing more in this block!

John

Luke Pemberton : 16 May 2017 09:06 |  Tags: John Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem