The worst thing about having a part time job as a tutor...

... is having to revise GCSE Physics on a Saturday morning!

EURGH!!!

I'm not sure what's worse... revising physics so i can teach it later this afternoon; or spending another hour or two doing SJT practice questions.

6 days till SJT exam.. can't wait to have it out the way! I'm so fed up of doing questions and ranting about the stupid explanations given which seem to contradict every other question justification before it.

Getting busy

Final year is starting to really pick up, and I don't feel anywhere near ready yet... !

There's many a time this academic year to date, where i've actually felt completely stomped. You know where you feel like you should know the answer, but the words escape your mind... well yeah, that's happening a LOT at the moment!! 

It's good I realise how little of general medicine I remember, as "THE FEAR" is growing and that helps kick me into study mode...

Finals are in approximately 4 Months time!

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So since my last post, I've been busy with my SSC in ophthalmology, followed by 3 weeks picking up skills on how to be a FY1 on the respiratory ward (part of my general medicine firm), and now i'm approaching the last week of my emergency medicine placement. 

Going to keep this short.. so in summary/highlights:

SSC:

Brilliant placement! I don't really want to say i know exactly what I want to do in the future just yet, but this is high on the list. Electives in ophthalmology? - definitely!

General medicine:  

I realised i don't know enough (!!), but on the plus side - I've done a lot of practical things, and i'm definitely growing more confident with doing ABGs, cannulas and bloods now. 

Got to know the nurses really well, and I had a few goes at setting up IV drugs, and giving nebulisers to patients (it sounds more complicated than it does, you just twist it open and pour it into the compartment in the mask, wack on the air, and hey presto!)

Emergency medicine: 

Got to put my first dislocated shoulder back in place! 

Reg: Tofu, have you ever done this before?

Me: no..  but I don't mind helping you out

Reg: Okay, in which case, Tofu you're going to do it

Me: erm... okay!

-- he gave me a quick tutorial outside the patient's cubicle, and we went in together and did it. I was surprised with how much strength i had to pull the arm with.. and how quickly it went back in place. 

Oh... and I managed to dodge the spit of a confused (or she really didn't like me) 80+ year old lady with a UTI in the emergency department. I was trying to do a CNS examination on her, and for a moment she held onto my hand. I thought this was simply her wanting my attention, but before i knew it, her lips formed together and they parted with spit coming in my direction. This sounds odd, but thankfully her mouth was rather dry and it didn't have much acceleration... I managed to wiggle my hand out from hers and escape before her 4th attempt at spitting at me. 

Trauma calls = be the scribe = i don't know where i'm meant to be filling in the information!

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AFP interview in 11 days time! I stupidly left it late to select my interview date, and all the later dates have already been filled, so i'm going to have to prepare as much as i can in the short time i have!