Another day at work

So work this week, it's somehow not so hectic. the lowest load we had was 9 pts to spread among us 3 interns. which makes 3 pts each, and most of them were just happily watching television. lol

Today i made a bad boo boo, with a bad bad IV gone wrong. Not that bad, but still i hit a nerve, and the pt was in so much pain she cried and cried and it's an elderly lady that usually has a good pain threshold. She said she couldnt move her hand after a while... I was there all the time beside her except when getting stuff to test and flush the IV. In the end i took it out and got my co-intern to do a good job with a drip. Went so well that i felt worse lol. Guess i need more practice.

My nights on Tuesday was nice and cruzy. only 2 pages the whole shift. how awesome was that lol. Hope things go well for the coming weeks.

my first night cover and my first week of work

Night Cover /naɪt ˈkʌvər/ (noun):

1. Time when Ker Fern has to work from 7.30 am to 5pm like a normal day then 5pm to 9.30 pm covering 2 teams of patients which is about 20 to 30 patients.
2. It is the time when he gets a bit flustered, when the Cover Registrar gets Ker Fern to do him so many favours including 5 x-rays that were urgent with ?perforation.
3. It is also where i did my first catheter on an awake female patient and wonder if i am going to give her an infection. I also had to assess a ?bowel obstruction with a guy in lots of pain.
4. Had 2x blood cultures (for septic screens) to do and had a difficult to bleed patient and had to do this at 11pm
5. All in all, i survived, thinking this is definitely so much better than what life would probably be in Singapore. But i still have lots to brush up on: i need to be faster. And i need need need to learn to hand over and present cases better. All over the place is not a good place to be.

I love my job, Especially when I manage to pacify a worked up family member, when i reassure the family after the patient comes out of surgery or procedure. And also it feels good when you actually know more about the patient than the consultant. (it is kind of expected but i was so used to knowing less about a patient than the consultant when i was a medical student).

Lastly, i am very thankful for the consultant who signed off all my overtime this week.

Also January is zipping fast quick, it's already 24 Jan 2011, cant wait for nikon d800 rumours to come true. Hopefully it will have the new SD UHS1, backlit or new gen of sensor and also new noise reduction capabilities. For those who missed an awesome post of a new compact camera here it is: http://hx9v.blogspot.com/2011/01/sony-hx9v-on-net.html#more

First day of work as a Doctor

another 4 months lapsed since i last posted and i promise more posts as i travel along my work life. to check that i have a work life balance.

Curently a general surgery intern with 2 other interns with about 25 patients. Cant complain especially with my friends in Singapore that are going to be much more busy. Those who already are doctors in sg are probably laughing ;p

Well it was busy 12 hours at work. Notice i still have lots of things i dunno. And shockingly some i cant look up and have to ask. Like the practical aspects of how much IV morphine to put under PRN (pro re nata, latin for administered as needed), how much fluid to order and how much antiemetics to give.

Other wise. the female Opthamology reg returned my call after a case as i was making a referral for a patient said, "darling, you have to do the visual acuity before u have called me." Well i did try but not hard enough, it was due to a language barrier that made it real tough. After the 'encouragement' from the reg, i spent like 20 mins doing the acuity properly and got the history of the eye problem. Wish i spoke cambodian.

And I think i say sorry too many times, for making people wait, esp discharging patients waiting for their paper work. Hope i say sorry less and get more efficient.

Wished i could have gone for spin class tonight. Probably should suspend gym membership till i get a hang of things. Wanted to do swing my 16Kg Kettlebell, but well too tired and i got to help my friend prepare for interview for tmr. Hope he gets the job =)

Things i want to read tonight: fluid orders, analgesia doses, antiemetic doses