Clinical Medicine Module: Surgery Rotation

So last Thursday was my Surgery rotation as part of the Bute's new Clinical Medicine Module. We're basically the guinea pigs for this, but at least most of the kinks from last year's class had already been worked out. It was basically what I imagine an Introduction to Clinical Medicine class would be like if I were back home. There were 6 of us, and one Consultant (an Attending, back home), and we basically just went on a small Ward Round. He would explain to us basic things, do a lot of basic science pimping, as well as explaining some more of the semantic things about patient care (DVT prophylaxis with LMWH and stockings, etc).

For those of our class who have no/little hospital experience from a patient carer standpoint (eg doctor/nurse, as opposed to clerk), I think it was very beneficial. I'm not trying to sound cocky, but most of the stuff he told me I learned this past summer with the Hospitalists. However, he did show me how much basic anatomy I had forgotten over the summer/past year.

Overall I think it was pretty good, and while I was really looking forward to my A&E day next sememster, it turns out that it's just a ortho fracture review...but the Consultant offered everyone some Saturday night shifts in the A&E doing proper work, so I might just...pretend I have already met him and take him up on the offer :-)

In other news, I am very behind in my work. We have mainly only had Anatomy lectures so far (Head & Neck, and CNS), with a little bit of Pharm (General Anaesthetics, etc) thrown in for fun. I have written up 3 of the 15 lectures we've had, and more start tomorrow....*sigh*. That's med school for you...


-AMiB

Hello, World!

Well, seeing as how this is my first post, I guess I should introduce myself. My name is AMiB. I am 18 years old (at the time of this writing). I am currently a 2nd year medical student at the Bute Medical School, University of St. Andrews, in St. Andrews, Scotland. I am originally from Southern California, born and raised, and trust me, moving halfway across the world to this freezing place has definitely been a shock.

One of the biggest shocks I find (besides the accent/food/weather) is the health-care system. Yes, I kn-
just a quick message to say that the ridiculous fire alarm in my hall of residence just went off...and i am now back. but that is something for me to complain about in another post.

Right, so I knew coming to the UK to study medicine meant I would be taught under a NHS-run style of teaching. As Dr. Crippen of NHS Blog Doctor put it in his post:
"By the time Eric got to the hospital, he had made a complete recovery. He was sent home after a minute under four hours in hospital with the usual letter saying “go and see your GP and get him to investigate you.” In the old days, of course, the hospital would have initiated the investigations themselves without me having to send him back for a second bite at the cherry. Biting the cherry twice wastes a lot of time and money, but hospitals do not earn their three stars by keeping people in Casualty for tests."

Having spent every Saturday morning during senior year in high school in my local ER, as well as 4 9-hour shifts a week there this summer, I am used to the model of: brought in by paramedics, find something wrong, admit them to whoever is on call. Now sure, thats not how it always went, but that was the general trend I seemed to notice.
Also, I'm just in my preclinical years right now, and the only clinical time I get is at KLCAS (if you could call it clinical time [again, a subject for a later post]), and my summers spent in the hospital back home। Maybe my outlook will change when I go on to my clinical training, maybe it won't. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.


For the most part, I have very few original thoughts, so many of my posts will be links to posts in other blogs that I read, as listed on the right. Hopefully I won't give up on this thing too easy (as I tended to do with my 'personal' blogs in the past), and I look forward to hearing what you guys have to say!

Until next time,

-AMiB