All 2 entries tagged Teddybearhospital

Anaesthesia, Audits

Over the last couple of weeks, I have busy getting stuck into my Anaesthetics block. This has mostly involved time in main theatres with the anaesthetists. We follow the patient journey through their operation, which was great as we saw the patient on the ward before the operation for their pre-operative assessment (to make sure they are fit for surgery), then in the anaesthetic room before surgery and then into theatre throughout the operation. The patients are understandably anxious before their surgery, and it was really nice to chat to them as they had their anaesthetic and hopefully distracted them from their anxiety (and the needles!), if only for a minute or two.

We saw some really interesting aspects of anaesthesia, including patients undergoing general anaesthetic (being sent to sleep), but also local anaesthetics and spinals (where an injection into the spinal cord directly numbs the nerve roots). I hadn’t really considered the fact that patient can undergo major surgeries with only spinal anaesthesia, meaning that they are awake throughout the procedure. I think more and more surgeries are being done in this way now, meaning that the risks and after effects of general anaesthesia can be avoided.

Another activity that I’ve been involved in recently is clinical audit. We have to do a research project as part of the course in third year (called Student Selected Component 2), but most students are also involved in additional audits or projects whilst studying. I think before I joined the course I hadn’t really considered anything other than getting onto the course itself and wasn’t really sure how to get involved in audits and the like or the value of doing these.

Students decide to take part for many reasons – prime amongst these is that an audit counts as extra “points” for foundation scheme places and thus makes you more likely to get the Foundation Doctor job that you want. As well as this, it gives you experience in research (essential aspects of a doctor’s career) and also gives you a chance to shape or contribute to improving patient care. Finding research projects isn’t too difficult – just chatting to some of the doctors that you meet during your placements anyway leads them to mention various projects they are involved in/want to start and most are very keen to get students on board to help with data collection.

One such chance encounter happened to me and my clinical partner whilst we were shadowing one of the doctors in anaesthetics, meaning that we are now involved in a project to look at complications post-surgery. We are involved in data collection, which involves looking at patient notes and recording details of the operation and then recording complications after the surgery has concluded. So far its been a very good experience of being involved in research and serves as good practice for reading patient notes to boot.

After a busy week, I definitely need a chance to unwind, and it so happens tonight is that chance. I’m part of the Teddy Bear Hospital Society and tonight we are holding a movie night for charity, and it happens to be a showing of The Greatest Showman – sing-along version! I’ve been rehearsing all week in preparation….

Jordan

Megan Earle : 04 Mar 2019 12:00 |  Tags: Anaesthesia Audits Mbchb Student Teddybearhospital Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

What’s wrong with your bear?

Well it’s the end of another block, so that’s three down, only two more to go before my first year exams. Block 3, Brain and Behaviour, has been a really enjoyable block for me as I have a background in neuroscience.

I have still found it really tough though, despite my background this course is very clinically focused from very early on. This means that we are already interpreting scans and learning drug names and mechanisms of action - not my strongest skills at the moment after only 5 months of Medical school. This early exposure to clinical scenarios and cases is one of the reasons why I love the course at Warwick but it is a totally different approach to my previous degree which does take some getting used to!

This early clinical focus means that right from the first week we are working on our clinical skills. At first it’s in small groups at our Friday hospital sessions, then it’s with individual patients in their homes on our community days and now we are actually putting those skills into practice with patients on the wards during our hospital placements.

In order to develop our clinical skills further we are always receiving feedback from our tutors and our peers but last week we went one step further by recording ourselves during a history consultation. We were all filmed individually taking a history from an actor; we then received feedback from the rest of the small group (who are watching you doing the consultation!) and from a GP facilitator. I was so nervous waiting for my turn but actually received really good feedback from my group.

Watching the video back again I can hardly believe it’s me (I’m sure I don’t sound that squeaky!). Getting the right body language and right questions are skills that we are still developing but it’s great to see how much progress I have made in such a short space of time.

This week I was also pleased to find out that I had passed all the stations in my formative OSCE. An OSCE is not something many people have experience with, you have ten minutes per station (7mins task, 3mins feedback) then the alarm goes and you leave and read the instructions on the door of the next room until the alarm goes again and you start the next task. It’s quite a nerve wracking experience so I’m very relieved that I passed and I feel more prepared for the summative OSCE in the summer.

Sometimes it may not seem it but there is time for fun as a first year medical student, I have started to volunteer with Teddy Bear Hospital, a society that works with young children to teach them about health and hospitals. We have stations about exercise, healthy eating, when to call 999 and also a station where the kids can put bandages and casts on their Teddies. I helped out with a group of Beavers and after an hour dealing with thirty hyperactive 6 years olds Medical school looked a lot easier!

Joanne

Megan Earle : 12 Feb 2015 10:55 |  Tags: Joanne Mbchb Student Teddybearhospital Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem