Packing for my first firm!

YAY!

My first firm finally starts on Monday! - and to kick it all off, it's an outfirm... which means a spot of packing of the essentials to keep me alive for the next 9 weeks - along with a few set of smart clothes, and random bits and bobs to clutter up my room!! AND NO MORE daily 1.5 hour commute to and from uni each day!!!

... and here comes my moaning..

We were originally to collect our keys on Sunday so we can settle in before Monday, but due to some issues with the housing, we now have to register at the hospital at 10am on Monday and attend the intro talks and all.. but we won't be given our rooms until noon on the very same day!

So i will now have to wake up extra early on Monday morning to get myself out of London, and lug my suitcase of "essentials" with me for 10am..and sit in a talk with my pyjamas packed in the case sitting next to me > . < i was looking forward to no more 1.5 hour commutes!

Not really sure what i need to bring to be fair, it's my first time going to do a firm, and i really have no idea what an attachment involves...

- Will i have a lot of work - or should i bring something to read?

- Should i bring some relevant year 1 and 2 notes so i can revise the relevent bits - or will 3rd year be more clinical?

- Do i need a stethoscope (im bringing mine anyways) ?

- Will i be bothered to come back down to london on Wednesday for sports.. or will i just become even more unfit?

- How much coffee should i bring with me?

All very important questions =P

.... hmmm.... i guess i will soon find out!

Yr 3: intro

It's definitely more clinical this year!

I've been back at uni for 2 weeks now, and we're just about done with all the introductory lectures, communication skill classes and clinical skills refresher sessions... and lets not forget the fun bits which came in the form of practical skill sessions!

Practical Skills:

This is where we get split into smaller groups and practice either on models, or.. each other! We had four sessions altogether, and managed to refresh ourselves on previous skills, like taking a blood pressure, and measuring blood sats.. and all the new stuff:

- Taking blood

- Putting in a cannula

- Inserting a catheter

- Opthalmoscopy

- Otoscopy

all in all.. a lot of fun! Although i seemed confident doing it on a plastic model.. i'm sure i will be less so when i actually have to take blood from an actual patient for the first time... only 2 weeks till im off to my first firm!

Clinical skills:

This was embarrassing! On our very first session we got split into pairs within our small groups, and had to take a patient history. I was taking the patient history, and my friend acted as the patient. This was fine, i asked all the appropriate questions starting with his name, age and occupation, and took a full history....

....now here is the embarrassing part...!! >.<

The consultant who was taking the class comes to our group, and gathers the "students" and asks us to present the patient.. I was picked first...and so.. off i went:

T:"This is *insert friend's name*, a 21 year old... " - Consultant stops me here, "NO!, next" and looks at the person next to me.... (eeeks! what? what have i done wrong?!) he goes around the group asking questions, and gets back to me:

C: "Tofu, what is the occupation of the patient"
T: "He is a medical student"
C: " NO! he works in a supermarket!"
T: " But the patient told me he was a medical student.."

- this was when we all looked at my partner...and he fessed up... he basically didn't read the scenario properly, and didn't realise he was meant to be Mr Jones, a 23 year old supermarket worker!!

Haha, in hindsight it was pretty funny, but at the time i was just cringing at getting all the simple things wrong in front of everyone >.<

Communication skills:

In communication skills we learnt how to take a patient history, and then practised doing so with pretty convincing actors! It's a lot harder than it looks!! It seems easy in principle, to go through the checklist and make sure you ask all the appropriate questions, but i found myself closing down my open questions as soon as i've asked them...

The most embarrassing moment was when i had to ask the "patient" if she had recently had sex. I'm unsure why i found it so awkward (Well the tutor and the entire group was observing me) and it went "er..... when was the last time you er..... er..... er..... *10 seconds later*... had sexual intercourse?"

Next Week: CSP

7 lectures a day... every day apart from Wednesday...

coffee?.. YES PLEASE!