All 24 entries tagged John

Starting on the Paediatrics Ward

We’ve just started our third specialist clinical rotation and it’s focused on Child Health. This is actually a really diverse block. The medical school in combination with our base hospital puts a lot of effort into making sure that our timetables show expose us to various different aspects of paediatrics, so I’ve been to allergy clinics, development clinics and a few others so far – and it’s only been two weeks. We’ve got a lot more of this coming up over the following month. I wasn’t quite sure what I was expecting, but the care and the patients’ needs seem much more varied than I realised. I guess that’s what medical education is for.

In addition to clinics, we are also expected to spend time on the paediatrics ward and on the special-care baby ward (known affectionately as SCBU), among other places. I’m really looking forward to SCBU and to seeing some of the neonatal presentations. We will get to learn how to perform baby checks and see lots of the presentations that affect babies who are born unwell. Although it’s not an always-pleasant thing to confront, it’s part of someone’s health journey. I know that they’re in the best hands possible when admitted in the SCBU and each patient’s best shot at a happy and healthy life comes from being looked after by the staff there. I cannot wait to see it in action.

Taking patient histories (a mainstay of clinical contact, and something we learn from the first week of the first year) can introduce a different challenge with paediatrics patients: I’m rarely talking to one patient, I’m talking to a patient plus a parent and sometimes two! Sometimes the child is non-verbal, sometimes a grandparent comes along, sometimes the parents don’t speak English as a first language, and so on. These are all real-life factors that can make clear communication a more vital and significant part of the history. Furthermore, it can be really intimidating for a child to have lots of adults paying looking at them and asking questions about their health. We really have to ensure that we make it as non-threatening an environment as possible for the best interests of the patient, and all of the doctors on this ward are experts in this and teach us well.

Additionally, there are lots of components to a paediatric history that don’t have so much relevance in adult histories. For instance, we gather information where possible from parents about the child’s pregnancy and delivery, immunisations, developmental milestones and other social factors such as family life, schooling and siblings. These all contribute to a complete health picture for the patient and help us understand their background better than we otherwise would. It’s really good that the med school give us this practice; we need to have it down to an art by the time finals roll round!

John

Luke Pemberton : 10 Apr 2017 14:36 |  Tags: John Mbchb Patients Student Wards Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

The End of the GP Block

My clinical partner and I have come to the end of our GP block and it’s been a lot more enjoyable than I ever expected. The doctors at our surgery have all been lovely and extremely keen to teach us, and we’ve seen all sorts of different things come through the door. It’s been extremely eye-opening and educational in equal measure.

It seems that everyone expects GP surgeries to see coughs and colds and little else, and whilst we have seen our fair share of upper-respiratory-tract infections (URTIs, as we know them), we have been involved with a whole lot more. I think the less-than-entirely-complimentary way in which the profession can be viewed by other doctors is not always entirely justified. We have seen extremely vulnerable people who depend on their carers and doctors to help maintain their quality of life. We have seen difficult situations with depressed or anxious patients managed expertly by excellent and empathetic doctors. We have dealt with gynaecological problems, with issues involving sexual health and problems caused by deprivation – and all this in just one day.

The beauty of the GP role is that many times you just don’t know what’s going to come through the door. Just because a patient has a history of ovarian cancer doesn’t mean that she’s going to come in about that; she very well may have just stubbed her toe the night before (more than likely she has an URTI…). It really does require a nimble and agile doctor who is able to think on his or her toes. I liken it to having a massive flowchart in your head, which starts to be followed from the moment you lay eyes on the patient. Of course, every consultation starts with a “Please tell us why you’ve come in today…”, but ideally assessment of the patient comes about from the moment you lay eyes on them. We’re taught this from our first week at med school: does the patient look weak, ill or frail? Do they walk with a frame, stick or cane?, and so on. It really is a huge, complex and multifaceted profession – and one that I have perhaps a little begrudgingly come to love.

I remember one survey which we conducted not long after we started at med school; of the 170-odd people in the cohort, no more than five or six said (or would admit?) that they were interested in becoming GPs. And going into med school, I never thought I’d find the profession attractive. I still am not very, very interested in it, but even I cannot deny that this role is a lot more attractive than I once thought. I guess that’s one point of the block: we have spent several weeks seeing how the career of a GP operates and the myriad things that go on behind closed doors – not just the ten-minute consultations, of course! – and it has been an integral part of our education. I hope that every student who is lucky enough to take part in a GP block at some point in their WMS career gets as much out of theirs as I have out of mine.

John

Luke Pemberton : 03 Apr 2017 09:26 |  Tags: John Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Vulnerability

We’re just over halfway through our six-week GP block, the second of eight Specialist Clinical Placements. Our surgery is a lovely, pleasant place in an area which draws on a very diverse population. We get to see a variety of problems and presenting complaints – although as it is wintertime, we are definitely seeing more than our fair share of coughs and colds. I am slightly relieved, however, as we have been told that hayfever season is just round the corner- it’s such a shame, but unfortunately we are going to miss it!

A lot of GP work involves what we typically think of a GP as doing: there are consultations in surgeries in the famous ten-minute slots (or fifteen minutes, if you’re a medical student). Some surgeries have also started introducing telephone consultations, where they assess patients over the phone (where appropriate, obviously) or home visits, for patients who are very infirm. Our surgery does all of this, and more, and it’s been really interesting watch the different ways in which they engage in the community and serve the members.

It’s probably less well known that many GPs also see patients who are at care homes or nursing homes as part of their daily or weekly routine. We accompany the GPs along on some of these visits for several reasons. We go to get a good feel of how care homes are run and patients’ problems present there. We go to see different ways in which GPs’ knowledge is put to use. We also go to gain an understanding of other patients’ experiences and to see how they live and are cared for.

Recently, we visited a care home which houses patients who have suffered brain injuries. It was very interesting and – I can’t lie – it made a profound impression on me. It made me think of many things at once. I am so happy and we are all so lucky to live in a society where people who are vulnerable (or in some cases completely unable to look after themselves) are still treated with dignity and care. It made me proud that they are still able to get care from the NHS. (I come from a country in which such a thing absolutely does not exist.) Finally, it made me realise that being a good doctor, a good GP, is not just caring for those people with coughs and colds and allergies; it is looking after everybody in society. We are trusted to help and care for those who are vulnerable and it is a massive responsibility. I will never forget visiting that care home, and I will never forget the dignity those patients are given, day in and day out. It made me proud to continue doing what I am doing.

John

Luke Pemberton : 13 Mar 2017 09:15 |  Tags: John Mbchb Patients Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

General Practice Rotation

We Phase-III students are now well into our second Specialist Clinical Placement (SCP) of eight in 2017. After six weeks learning all about Musculoskeletal Health, my clinical partner and I are now on the General Practice (GP) block through the end of March. It’s been an overall wonderful experience so far, and we both hope it continues to be. Every clinical-partner pair in this block is assigned to a local GP surgery, most of which are local to the medical school and South Warwickshire. Our practice is a very diverse one, and we have worked with five or six different GPs so far – and we’re only two weeks in! We of course had GP placements during our second year (Phase II) as well, and we rotated through three different practices over the course of our 30-week Core Clinical Education block.

There are some similarities to our consultations in Phase II but it’s also different in many ways. First of all, our time slots are a lot shorter. We’ve generally only got fifteen minutes per consultation (much shorter than 20 minutes – or sometimes 30 – during CCE). Secondly, we know so much more this time round! It’s amazing to think of how much we’ve learned in such a short time period. And finally, and most importantly, we are much more actively involved in the entire consultation – from history to management and safety-netting (ensuring that more-serious conditions are accounted for when discharging a patient). I feel like we are taken very seriously by our supervising doctors these days; this gradual increase in responsibility (and accountability) will help us well when we qualify.

We also spend time observing the consulting styles of different GPs at the practice, which is extremely valuable for our development from students into doctors. It’s really important to see how different people handle different situations with patients, and it’s also a vital part of our medical education to learn how to be flexible and adaptable. I cannot count the number of times that a consultation has come to an end and I’ve been amazed by the way a GP has dealt with a tricky topic or adapted a message to a specific situation; I know that this can come with years (and sometimes decades) of practice, but it really useful for us to observe these skills so that we can develop them for ourselves.

And of course, the GP block isn’t just sitting in on consultations with live patients. We have a lot of skill-building exercises and off-site teaching as well. Our block gives us two days per week at the medical school. Once per week we have teaching in very small groups, where we spend the day talking to simulated patients who present with a specific set of problems. For instance, the theme this week was “difficult consultations”, where we had to deal with very sensitive diagnoses and figure out the best way to discuss them with the (simulated) patient. My session had an actor playing a woman who had just tested positive for an STI, and I had to discuss the diagnosis and possible causes with her. It was a little awkward to discuss these issues for the first time, but I’d much rather it be awkward with an actor than with a real-life patient. Broaching sensitive subjects with patients, and bringing up topics that they might not want to hear, is of course a skill which is not used only in general practice; these are skills that are useful to doctors of all disciplines.

John

Luke Pemberton : 24 Feb 2017 15:16 |  Tags: John Mbchb Patients Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

The End of SCP1 and Farewell to Musculoskeletal Health

It’s so hard to believe that we are already in Phase III. I swear that we started our induction week just the other day. But as we are now in the final push, we will be spending the rest of 2017 in our Specialist Clinical Rotations (SCPs). These are six-week deep-dives into eight specialist areas of teaching, which are intended to make us all well-rounded medical students and doctors and give us sufficient education and knowledge about a very wide variety of topics. Our cohort is divided into eight evenly-sized groups, and we cycle through our different rotations throughout the year. This is probably my least-favourite time of year, however, as the mornings in January are so dark and it’s so difficult to find the motivation to wake up when the entire world seems frozen! I’m really looking forward to summer – or even spring – when thins brighten up a bit and we leave home at least when it’s not pitch black out.

My group is just coming to the end of the Musculoskeletal Health block, in which we have spent the past six weeks working closely with consultant orthopaedic surgeons and rheumatologists. It has been absolutely fascinating, and I've been enjoying it far more than I thought I would. I’d seen a few joint replacements and sterile injections in the past, but this block was so much more than this. Our time has been more or less evenly split between both sub-disciplines, and we've been spending a lot of time in clinics, teaching sessions and have had the fair bit of theatre time thrown in. This block seems to be far less ward-based than any one I've had so far, probably by the nature of the patient contact. And we have a specific sign-off list that ensures we get as broad an exposure as possible.

The MSK faculty team at the hospital we’ve been based at have been really engaged in teaching and have all been really keen to help us learn. It’s really helpful. We’ve had all sorts of formal and informal teaching, and because I really like anatomy and the mechanical functioning of the human body, I’ve really got a lot out of this block. And I feel that we are taken much more seriously as end-stage medical students than we were in CCE (in Phase II). We have attended several teaching clinics, which are clinics in which we see patients, under the supervision of a doctor, and then are given feedback on our performance. It’s really useful to have this feedback, because even though we won’t have final exams for a year, every bit of constructive criticism helps.

The best part of the block has almost certainly been the direct attention we get from consultants – the experts in their fields. It’s so humbling to see these people who are absolutely excellent at their trade working well with patients. I’m really motivated to work hard now, because I’ve been working really closely with people who are just so good at their jobs; it’s really awesome to see. We start the GP rotation next Monday, so I’m hoping that we’ll have another great round and learn a lot more!

Luke Pemberton : 13 Feb 2017 16:38 |  Tags: John Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem