Journal Entries
Core Surgical Interviews
Posted Jan 23, 2012
Today I had the second of my two Core Surgical Training interviews. These are structured so you are interviewed in three rooms, each for ten minutes, answering questions on emergencies, clinical management, and your CV and portfolio.
In the portfolio station, two consultant surgeons shake my hand and offer me a seat. I sit down and look across at them, wondering what awful question they will ask.
One of them looks at me, and asks:
"This Douglas Adams encyclopaedia thing, what is it exactly?"
Wow, they actually got that far through my portfolio! Now is my chance to show off. I explain, succinctly and including Peer Review. The consultant nods along, but then he asks:
"With Wikipedia existing... what's the point of h2g2?"
Discuss this Journal entry [6]
Latest reply: Jan 23, 2012
First journal post in a year...
Posted Dec 25, 2011
...and all it says is Merry Christmas.
Tufty 
Discuss this Journal entry [10]
Latest reply: Dec 25, 2011
Virtual Researcher
Posted Dec 25, 2010
I'm working on sub-editing Bluebottle's Isle of Wight coastal path entries and, as usual, I'm fact checking an awful lot to try and ensure the route is correct. Now, Ordnance Survey maps are great, but say I want to check whether a certain route is signposted at the roadside - I head into Google Streetview and wander around on there. And then it dawns on me - I'm doing exactly what DNA predicted. I'm researching the real universe using a virtual one that someone kindly built, so that I never have to leave my office. I wonder how far this might go.
(I suppose we might just rely on the interconnectedness of all things, eh? 
)
Tufty
Discuss this Journal entry [16]
Latest reply: Dec 25, 2010
Nights
Posted Sep 3, 2010
03/09/2010
05:45
FY1 On-call (Ashman)
I'm not sure yet whether I like working nights. They're certainly not boring - you get to practice various practical skills (Yay! Another catheter!), there are plenty of biscuits to snaffle, and there's the satisfaction of managing an acutely ill patient correctly. And when things occasionally do get boring, you get to sleep for half an hour on a row of chairs (it sounds uncomfortable, but it's strangely refreshing).
There are two main catches, though - firstly, they're nights (9pm 'til 9.30am for four nights), and secondly, I've been covering something like 150 patients - it gets rather busy at times. Ok, I know, in the old days all doctors worked constantly without rest for days on end, and I should be ashamed for only working 48 hours a week, but I still fall asleep pretty soon after I've got home and had breakfast 
.
I suppose the fact that I'm still enjoying it is what counts.
Alex 
Discuss this Journal entry [8]
Latest reply: Sep 3, 2010
First Day
Posted Aug 3, 2010
...well, actually, my last day of shadowing another doctor, but he left me to do a fair bit of the work. 
So, today I started prescribing as-required paracetamol, writing request forms, checking blood results, copying up drug charts, and making sure everyone who required blood thinners had some written up before I went home. All in all, I spent nine hours (with only a toilet stop and a shove-sandwich-in-mouth break) constantly doing things, and I don't recall making a single life-or-death decision. I doubt it will stay like that, but as first days go it could have been a lot worse. I know some people who are starting work as a doctor on night shifts, and I don't envy them much.
Alex
Discuss this Journal entry [9]
Latest reply: Aug 3, 2010
AlexAshman
Researcher U566116
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