Say what? Theatre?

Whenever I saw a medical student on campus, I'd always recognise them as they were the one that got in. They beat x amount of applications for that space at university, they're probably very confident and excellent communicators, had a string of A*s, and it sort of intimidated me to approach them because I wondered what they had that I didn't, which sounds incredibly naive and stupid now that I'm writing this. And so, I don't think I really gave myself a chance to learn a lot of valuable experiences from them when I could've. I should've acquainted myself with them, and I think this internship has changed my perspective on approaching medical students and just getting to know them!

During my internship, the medical students have been really lovely hard working people and I've appreciated how helpful and approaching they are, too. I didn't really have anyone to teach me how to do the work whilst on my internship except them. Unlike all the other interns who had training by managers and supervisors, I had to be a med student's problem, and whilst they had their own research to do I was asking umpteen questions and bugging them if I'd done it right or not. So they had a lot of patience and that was something I really appreciated. Over the next few days they really got to know me and I got to know them despite the piles of paperwork and I enjoy the friendship that I've struck up with them. I got to ask questions about their life in medical school, and life outside of it and how they like to relax. I showed them a few of my sketches and they were really impressed, which was really sweet. 

Oh and the other day, one of them wanted to ask the upper GI surgeons if she could witness one of their surgical procedures and pop into theatre, since she's doing a research paper on it.  And she casually suggested I come along and witness it for myself, too. SAY WHAT? I replied "Are you serious?" "Yeah, why not!"

I'll keep you updated if it goes ahead!
All in all a good week.

Lots of love.

My Internship

Hi all!

It's been such a busy week! On Monday, it was the first day of my paid six week long internship at the university hospital and since then there's been no rest whatsoever. I'm at the hospital for my placement for five days a week, Mondays to Fridays for 8 hours, so that's either a 9am-5pm or an 8am-4pm shift. On top of Monday's, I'm also volunteering within the same grounds on the gastrointestinal ward from 5pm-7pm. On the weekends, I've also got two 4 hour shifts on my part-time job and two hours volunteering at the children's hospital. So I'm midway through a 50-hour week and so far - I think I'm doing alright. My only concern is preparing for my UKCAT and personal statement alongside all of this.

Today was my third day into my internship and I'm beginning to really enjoy it! I'm working alongside two really lovely medical students who'll be entering their fourth year this September and they've both been incredibly helpful settling me in. My internship over the six weeks is primarily administrative, focusing on data entry of patient records which are collated into one large database which is being used for auditing as well as for their research projects over the summer. Over the past few days it's been fascinating to get to know what sort of research they're carrying out with this data and I've understood that the role that I'm currently doing was something one of the medical students was doing over the last summer, except this year she's manipulating and making use of both my data and her data, so she happily showed me the ropes and helped me understand the medical background behind my data and getting familiar with all the terms. 

The consultant overseeing my work is an Upper GI surgeon and so that's essentially the clinical nature of the data I'm working on. Its patients who've primary suffered from adenocarcinomas in their gastrointestinal and oesophogeal tracts and so the subsequent treatments they've had to treat it are gastroenectomies and oesophegectomies. Its these surgical procedures and the histopathology data related to it that I've had to handle and it's been a steep learning curve to handle. Prior to this, I hadn't really appreciated or grasped what a surgical resection entailed, and if I had, I probably didn't give it much thought. 

I didn't really know the anatomy of the stomach, but now I'm confident I could label the cardia, fundus, phylorus, duodenum, body, the lesser and greater curves, and the distal and proximal margins  - all of which are features of this incredible organ. I definitely hadn't heard of the TNM classification for tumours, let alone how to convert one staging from the old UICC 6 framework to the newly introduced UICC 7 method, but now I do! I still have quite a lot to learn when it comes to this pathology data, such as getting familiar with Lauren types (such as intestinal, diffuse or mixed..) and the Macroscopic appearance of tumours (such as ulcerated, polyploid, ill-defined..), on top of R0, R1a, R1b, and R2 resections. It's one thing to simply copy across these terms, because let's be fair - that's the minimum that's expected of me, but with an amazing opportunity like this where I can grasp and flavour clinical knowledge, it would be a shame not to identify and understand what I could potentially be looking out for in the future. 

What struck me the most was when the medical student who'd done this last year - told me she had to do all of this completely on her own - self taught. Her medical school knowledge briefly glanced over TNM staging, and in the majority of cases she had to go away and research how to apply and assign these terms, which was impressive! Can you tell I've been picking her brain a little with all my questions? She's been so incredibly helpful and I am eternally grateful!

Anyway, I'll try and write again soon - but for now I'll be going to sleep and getting some rest for tomorrow! Thanks for reading. P.S. Good luck with everyone receiving their GCSE results tomorrow!

My Littlest Patient so Far

Today I was back at the old hospital I've been volunteering in since January 2014. For the past two weeks I've been temporarily moved to the neonatal surgical ward due to maintenance going on in my regular ward, but I certainly didn't mind a new environment.

I spend the entirety of my shift with one very very little patient. An adorable, four month old patient suffering from spina bifida. They'd come in with an infection and when I entered the ward, they were all by themselves, so I immediately went over. The nurse suggested I pick them up in my arms, and asked whether I'd like to feed them a bottle of baby milk. Through the coughing and spluttering, the baby eventually managed to finish the whole bottle. I played with them, and eventually tiring them out, the little one fell asleep in my arms sound asleep. Since all my siblings have grown up, it's been a little while since I've held a baby, and I've definitely missed it.

Whilst I was there I got to know the nurse who was in charge of taking care of this patient. She was every so friendly and incredibly open to my questions, so all in all, a good day so far. I have work in a while and so I'll be napping to catch a few hours. After work, it'll be followed by some UKCAT revision later in the evening!

How's your day been?

Lots of love

First Day as a New Volunteer

At around 3:00pm today, I made my way onto the hospital grounds I’d be volunteering in for the first time. My shift would start at 4:00pm and finish at 6:00pm, but I was in a little earlier because I had a little paperwork to do beforehand. It turns out, that by the grace of God, I've managed to secure an Internship post for six weeks, and in the final stages of recruitment I had to fill out some forms and bring in the relevant documents before my start date the 17^th of August. (I’ll discuss my internship in a later post)

As I enter my ward, I'm looking for my Line Manager. She’s offering to show me around once more but I’m willing to get stuck in and figure things out myself. I previously visited the ward the week prior during my induction and had to take in just how big the ward actually is compared to the one at the previous hospital I volunteer in. There’s 36 beds, the majority being single roomed to ensure maximum comfort and privacy for the patients.

I spent the first half an hour getting to know all the nurses and allied staff, who were very welcoming! As it was in the middle of a mealtime, I helped out taking orders and giving out meals to all the patients, whilst getting to know the catering staff and finding out what their day to day schedules were like. I was also entrusted with collecting a prescription from the ward below, and when I’d got back with the medicine in my hand, the line manager was impressed I’d got an entire bottle. It probably didn’t mean anything to anyone else, but to me I felt trust and rapport was being built between myself and my manager at that point.

Following the lunch round and tidying up the used trays, I then decided to help the nurses on a tea and coffee round. I think I spoilt the patients a little, by offering biscuits and cake whenever I had the chance!

After that I sat down next to one of patients and really got to know his story. He’d been on the waiting list for a double transplant, and was a regular face on the ward. I loved how he introduced me to the patients opposite his bedside, and I appreciated the little friendship that had just grown between these three patients and myself. The second patient was also on the waiting list for a transplant; they'd been born with a genetic mutation that had translated into a debilitating condition which had sped up the aging process of this liver, so this middle aged patient unfortunately possessed a liver which could have belonged to a 100 year old. As for the third patient, they asked me how old I thought they were, and I replied middle twenties? They were actually ten years older, but because their incredibly thin, 6 stone frame, I underestimated their true age.

The first patient had told me he’d deactivated his Facebook in case he wouldn’t make it. By the end of us getting to know each other and listening to each and every one of their stories, including me sharing my own story, all three had exchanged names and the first patient had said he’d reactivate his Facebook account as soon as he’d get home. That day I’d felt I really did achieve something as a volunteer, it probably wasn’t something tangible, but within myself I felt a sense of understanding and ease in the presence of these patients. They were just people, often with hard struggles and suffering who could potentially feel a little bit better if someone listened.

Thanks for reading.