..honestly aren't tooo bad.
Yes, the patient number does increase, with the original 45 patients on the ward between 3 HCAs on long day shifts to now between just the 2 of us; but taking into consideration that most of the patients are asleep during the night, its not really too bad.
- On a negative side it means theres suddenly a big increase in the amount of obs. needed to be done, blood sugars to be checked, and catheters and nephrostomy bags to emptied; and not forgetting how it messes up sleep patterns, with 7.45pm starts and 8.15am finishes (same hours as long day shifts, but with the am and pm swapped around).
- BUT on the positive side of things, theres extra pay (quite important for an ex-student with debts!), and more "time dedicated to you" - meaning i have nothing to do.... (this to some extent is a double edged sword.. the rest now and then can be quite nice... but occasionally can make the day/night pass by very slowly, and the end of the shift feeling miles away) .... well it also means i have the spare time to sit, and to type this blog entry summing up my last 3 nights as im currently stuck alone in one of the nurses stations.
Ahhhhhh still another 6 hours to go - tonight has definately been the slowest night of the 3!
Thursday, 27 November 2008
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
X'mas ward rota
The long awaited X'mas ward rota is finally out!
- GLAD i'm off on the major dates : x'mas eve, x'mas day, new year's eve and new years!
...and only having to work on the 23rd, 26th and 27th, and then im off for a week from the 28th! So i'm a happy HCA during the main Xmas period!
Sadly i can't say the same for the upcoming next 3 weeks - with 7 night shifts in short space of 21 days, mixed in with a handful of day shifts... the worst part is having a long day shift on sunday followed by a row of 4 night shifts starting.. on the monday following! AKK! i expect a backache and bad moody patches.
in terms of med applications.. my track hasn't changed basically.
Still havn't heard anything yet since the interview, and i suspect i won't hear anything anytime soon either, but that doesn't stop me from stupidly checking track at stupid times of the day "just in case" - i doubt even the most zealous of admin staff will update track in the early hours of the morning... but oh well.. it helps me sleep better.
and something random
i want a lomography fisheye 2 camera! a bit of an expensive toy, but i want one!
- GLAD i'm off on the major dates : x'mas eve, x'mas day, new year's eve and new years!
...and only having to work on the 23rd, 26th and 27th, and then im off for a week from the 28th! So i'm a happy HCA during the main Xmas period!
Sadly i can't say the same for the upcoming next 3 weeks - with 7 night shifts in short space of 21 days, mixed in with a handful of day shifts... the worst part is having a long day shift on sunday followed by a row of 4 night shifts starting.. on the monday following! AKK! i expect a backache and bad moody patches.
in terms of med applications.. my track hasn't changed basically.
Still havn't heard anything yet since the interview, and i suspect i won't hear anything anytime soon either, but that doesn't stop me from stupidly checking track at stupid times of the day "just in case" - i doubt even the most zealous of admin staff will update track in the early hours of the morning... but oh well.. it helps me sleep better.
and something random
i want a lomography fisheye 2 camera! a bit of an expensive toy, but i want one!
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
bmat 2008
OK... so it wasn't as bad as last year (i risk sounding really stupid now if i do badly in comparrison to last year *.*).
I woke up early with some time to spare, and rather than studying my list of equations, i went downstairs to have a pot of baked beans..them really lazy ones in a plastic microwaveable pot... yes i had no idea why, but with the prospects of having the bmat later on in the morning, i developed a craving for baked beans.
Anyways, i got there early, stood in a que for another 15 minutes or so, went into the examination room with a 50 odd other bmat-ers, and after a few complaints about not having a clock in the room and random problems with not having enough answers sheets etc, we finally got the exam started!
Section 1 - wasn't too bad... but the questions about breast cancer probability with right handed and left handed people was quite annoying!
Section 2 - was harder this year, probably because i hadn't revised the correct material, and had to make stupid random guesses at the last few questions as i ran out of time, and had to just fill in the circles without even reading the questions... oh and i didn't like the question with cycling and travel .. or was that section 1 .. akkkk i can't remeber now
Section 3 - was really quite generous this year, it has been the only section 3 i've seen where i actually understood all 3 titles.... i did just choose essay 2 at the end; mumbling on about quality of life, patient autonomy and benificence.
So in summary:
Section 1 - ok
Section 2 - crap
section 3 - ok
Now a wait till December 1st to find out exactly how badly it went!
I woke up early with some time to spare, and rather than studying my list of equations, i went downstairs to have a pot of baked beans..them really lazy ones in a plastic microwaveable pot... yes i had no idea why, but with the prospects of having the bmat later on in the morning, i developed a craving for baked beans.
Anyways, i got there early, stood in a que for another 15 minutes or so, went into the examination room with a 50 odd other bmat-ers, and after a few complaints about not having a clock in the room and random problems with not having enough answers sheets etc, we finally got the exam started!
Section 1 - wasn't too bad... but the questions about breast cancer probability with right handed and left handed people was quite annoying!
Section 2 - was harder this year, probably because i hadn't revised the correct material, and had to make stupid random guesses at the last few questions as i ran out of time, and had to just fill in the circles without even reading the questions... oh and i didn't like the question with cycling and travel .. or was that section 1 .. akkkk i can't remeber now
Section 3 - was really quite generous this year, it has been the only section 3 i've seen where i actually understood all 3 titles.... i did just choose essay 2 at the end; mumbling on about quality of life, patient autonomy and benificence.
So in summary:
Section 1 - ok
Section 2 - crap
section 3 - ok
Now a wait till December 1st to find out exactly how badly it went!
Monday, 3 November 2008
Post KCL-interview
So i had my interview at GKT this morning; i arrived an hour early and made myself comfortable amongst the 6 or 7 other interviewees in the small and cosy waiting room, watching others fidget, and waiting to be called in.
I tried to remain calm throughout, but i think my slightly sweaty hands gave it all away, though i did get a quick chance to dry them a tad on my trousers before the 1st and the 2nd handshake, and of course whilst they weren't looking!
I can't really talk about my experience in much detail today, as i signed a paper not to disclose information about the interview, and to be honest i think i rather not recall on today's experience, as i don't really know what to think of it - and i honestly think it can go either way.
So i'm just going to wait and see, it could be 2-3 weeks (according to the interview invitation letter), a month, or all the way til January!!! (according to my friends who had interviews last year) before i hear anything from them.
So again.. its just going to be an uncomfortable wait, constant ucas track checking, and some more time dedicated to hoping i'll hear from other medical schools soon.
Until then i have the dreaded BMAT this wednesday!
I tried to remain calm throughout, but i think my slightly sweaty hands gave it all away, though i did get a quick chance to dry them a tad on my trousers before the 1st and the 2nd handshake, and of course whilst they weren't looking!
I can't really talk about my experience in much detail today, as i signed a paper not to disclose information about the interview, and to be honest i think i rather not recall on today's experience, as i don't really know what to think of it - and i honestly think it can go either way.
So i'm just going to wait and see, it could be 2-3 weeks (according to the interview invitation letter), a month, or all the way til January!!! (according to my friends who had interviews last year) before i hear anything from them.
So again.. its just going to be an uncomfortable wait, constant ucas track checking, and some more time dedicated to hoping i'll hear from other medical schools soon.
Until then i have the dreaded BMAT this wednesday!
Saturday, 25 October 2008
kcl Interview - in 9 days
I had a pretty quiet day on the ward on Wednesday, so whilst the patients were having their lunch i decided to have a quick browse on the internet and check my mail; and was then pleasantly surprised ( + really happy) to find an email detailing my interview date and time from KCL admissions.
I've been waiting for their email for a while, but actually receiving the email bought a giant smile to my face, quickly followed by fear, and then the task of having to find another HCA to swap shifts with!
I had previously agreed with another HCA gap year student to swap shifts with each other if interviews came up for either of us, but as she is also sheduled to work on that day, and as the interview is very very soon ( 3rd November) i've decided not to risk leaving it too late, and decided to take annual leave on that day; afterall i doubt i'd use up all my annual leave otherwise.
Whilst really looking forward to the interview, i am also pretty nervous, especially after my ghastly interview performance at BL last year ( i really messed that one up!), i am just hoping my nerves won't get the best of me this time round - lets hope!
I've been waiting for their email for a while, but actually receiving the email bought a giant smile to my face, quickly followed by fear, and then the task of having to find another HCA to swap shifts with!
I had previously agreed with another HCA gap year student to swap shifts with each other if interviews came up for either of us, but as she is also sheduled to work on that day, and as the interview is very very soon ( 3rd November) i've decided not to risk leaving it too late, and decided to take annual leave on that day; afterall i doubt i'd use up all my annual leave otherwise.
Whilst really looking forward to the interview, i am also pretty nervous, especially after my ghastly interview performance at BL last year ( i really messed that one up!), i am just hoping my nerves won't get the best of me this time round - lets hope!
Monday, 20 October 2008
Letters
I received my letter from King's College London today.... hoping to find a letter detailing my interview date and time.. and then was simply a bit sad to find an acknowledgement letter.
Acknowledgement letters are the worse (see *), they give a sense of false hope, unlike acknowledgement emails which sort of tell you what to expect in the subject bar of the email before you even start reading. Whilst for the letters you have to read around 1 sentence in before you hit the "don't worry if you don't hear from us, we interview until April ..blah blah blah"!
*well acknowledgement letters are better than no acknowledgement letter i suppose.. as sometimes i fear my application may not have been received by the unis
Acknowledgement letters are the worse (see *), they give a sense of false hope, unlike acknowledgement emails which sort of tell you what to expect in the subject bar of the email before you even start reading. Whilst for the letters you have to read around 1 sentence in before you hit the "don't worry if you don't hear from us, we interview until April ..blah blah blah"!
*well acknowledgement letters are better than no acknowledgement letter i suppose.. as sometimes i fear my application may not have been received by the unis
Saturday, 18 October 2008
HCA work october update
Not too sure on the exact timetable yet, but i received a call from my ward sister yesterday to ask if i prefered working on christmas day or on new years >_<
In all honesty, preferebly i would have liked to have to choose neither of them, but weighing out the pros and cons i decided i would put myself down for a long day shift on either day; hopefully they'll be able to accomodate that, and not put me on a night shift.
Though the question did make me think about my future career and what i may be potentially letting myself in for, and although i like spending my christmas holiday with my feet up, i think my decision to apply for medicine is the correct one.
On a fun note, i finally finished my induction training, and enjoyed the adult basic life support and AED training from the resus. service. I've completed a few St John's Ambulance courses in the past, and learning how to apply the same basic principles to a clinical environment was really intersting... plus the very shiny (quite literally) card to certify passing the course is a nice bonus.
Work this week hasn't been too bad, there were some really friendly patients who were all very nice, the nurses taught me a lot more this week, and i got to work alongside student nurses. Although most of it has been well, occasionally there are a few very demanding patients, which require a lot more care and attention, and those which are just cheeky!!
In all honesty, preferebly i would have liked to have to choose neither of them, but weighing out the pros and cons i decided i would put myself down for a long day shift on either day; hopefully they'll be able to accomodate that, and not put me on a night shift.
Though the question did make me think about my future career and what i may be potentially letting myself in for, and although i like spending my christmas holiday with my feet up, i think my decision to apply for medicine is the correct one.
On a fun note, i finally finished my induction training, and enjoyed the adult basic life support and AED training from the resus. service. I've completed a few St John's Ambulance courses in the past, and learning how to apply the same basic principles to a clinical environment was really intersting... plus the very shiny (quite literally) card to certify passing the course is a nice bonus.
Work this week hasn't been too bad, there were some really friendly patients who were all very nice, the nurses taught me a lot more this week, and i got to work alongside student nurses. Although most of it has been well, occasionally there are a few very demanding patients, which require a lot more care and attention, and those which are just cheeky!!
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