One exam down…only a gazillion more to go

First exam done! All Warwick students sat the national Situational Judgement Test (SJT) last week. This is an exam that makes up 50% of our total score for our Foundation job applications so while it doesn’t test your medical knowledge it’s still very important! The SJT focuses more on the qualities expected of a doctor and how you handle difficult situations that we will be faced with such as confidentiality issues, explaining mistakes to patients and prioritising our workload. It’s a tricky test to prepare for so I’m glad it’s out of the way.

Apart from SJT practice I’ve still been enjoying my musculoskeletal block, we’ve been in the plaster room practicing putting casts on each other and I’ve also been in the trauma theatres. A day with the trauma team starts early with the 7.30am trauma meeting where all the traumas that came in the previous day are discussed and operations planned and prioritised. The team on call then head off to fracture clinic and the junior doctors respond to any trauma bleeps from A&E. The following day the same team then is in the trauma operating theatre doing any operations that are required on trauma patients that have come in over the previous few days. The day that I was in theatres we had a huge variety of different hip fractures, an unusual fracture in a teenager and then more common types of hip fractures that occur in the elderly. When we first learnt about falls in the elderly and hip fractures in second year I could not believe how much they cost the NHS with some studies suggesting they cost £1 billion per year, they are also a significant cause of mortality with a significant proportion of elderly patients not surviving even just 1 month after a hip fracture. All the studies show that if you treat a hip fracture quickly the mortality goes down no matter what the age of the patient is. For that reason, we had patients in their 90s on the trauma list to fix their hip fracture to preserve their mobility so they don’t become unwell and suffer any further complications.

Operations to fix hip fractures aren’t the most pleasant to watch and there is an awful lot of hammering and banging that makes you appreciate why people are so sore after their operation. I don’t have the best track record when it comes to fainting in theatres so I was slightly apprehensive about attending trauma theatres. So far during medical school I’ve hit the deck on a ward during a chest drain insertion as well as in theatre during a C-section, both times staff were lovely and understanding but both times I was completely mortified so I ate the biggest breakfast I could manage before heading into theatres. I must admit then when I was scrubbed up and quite close to the action I did feel quite queasy but I managed to stay standing! Hopefully I’ll have plenty of opportunities to further desensitise myself during our assistantship so I don’t continue to be a falls risk!

Joshua Galvin : 04 Dec 2017 09:57 |  Tags: Joanne Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem