After hours antics!

Was on rostered overtime at Campbelltown last night with Jaz. We were both run off our feet despite thinking it'd be cruisy since there's only 3 wards to cover between the 2 of us there.

Finally cleared the boards on the medical and surgical wards around 10pm when we decided to head over to the psych unit to review a patient. They had called us earlier that evening to see this guy who had apparently decided to start banging his head against a concrete wall repeatedly and who now had headache, vomiting and blurred vision. We had been kinda delaying seeing him because:

1. who wants to see a crazy psych patient right before ending a shift?
2. didn't fancy the guy getting agro or something towards us...
3. going to the psych unit actually involves leaving the main hospital complex and trudging a hundred or so metres in the cold and dark...

Anyhow, since we could no longer give any excuses as to why we still hadn't reviewed the patient, we decided the 2 of us should be able to handle this psych patient.

Turns out the guy hadn't banged his head against a wall, but had just punched himself in the forehead with his fists. Ok...so maybe not so crazy but still crazy! He said that he had been hearing voices and wanted them to stop. Fair enough I guess... We did the most rudimentary neuro exam and decided that he was "medically stable". Said goodnight to the psych staff and thought that our busy shift had finally come to an end.

That was until we got back to the entrance to the hospital to find it locked.

The sign on the door said "After hours please ring bell <----" Except that there was no bell to ring! Jaz and I searched around the doorway looking for a swipey card access thingy or something to let ourselves in but to no avail...

Ended up calling switch and explaining our predicament. We could hear switch explaining our situation to someone else and probably thinking "Those silly interns...!!" For some reason or other, security had something better to do than come and let us in so they told us to find the tunnel leading from the psych unit to the main hospital block.

Jaz and I looked at each other blankly and laughed!

Somehow they expected us to find what sounded like some obscure secret passageway leading from the psych unit to the main hospital block in the dark!

We trudged back over to the psych unit and actually found the tunnel straight away. We followed it to its end to find a door. Another locked door!

By this time we were thinking about just walking all the way around the hospital to the main entrance at the front. But amidst our aimless wandering, we spotted 2 doors with swipey card access thingies next to them! Tried the first door and but the stupid reader denied us access. Tried the second door and hey presto! It opened without even having to swipe a card! So much for security!

Thence ended a long and tiring day. To top things off, I spent the night in a freezer that is Campbelltown Hospital's overnight accommodation for its medical officers. The bed only had one blanket a sheet and by golly I was shivering all throughout the night...! There was a fan heater there but when I turned it on, the fan wasn't working and the element began to light up real bright and I seriously thought the heater would blow up so I quickly turned it off...

The 1.5 hrs of driving each day are definitely worth it...

Campbelltown Hospital!

I'm actually at home at the moment! And boy is it good to be home!

Today was my second day at Campbelltown, my first on the wards after a day of orientation yesterday. Have decided not to stay in the accommodation there but to drive every day instead cos it only takes 45 mins door to door! But I must say, the long drive really does feel long even though it's only an extra 20 mins from Bankstown. Anyhow, I think it's worth the drive to and fro each day to be able to sleep in my own bed and have the comforts of home!

I'm doing general surgery down there but today was a non-surgical day so I basically bludged most of the day! Finished the ward round with my reg by 8.30am and then did a few tasks before heading for the RMO lounge to hang. Man I have absolutely no problems with doing that for the next 10 weeks! But I guess I should bring a book to read or something cos it does get boring just watching the clock to tick down to 5pm.

Tomorrow I've got an evening shift so will have to camp overnight in Campbelltown...

The emergency's over!

Yay yay yay yay yay!!! My emergency term's over! No more nights for a while. No more weird shift work. No more having to deal with a particular staff specialist. No more having to deal with patients I have no idea how to deal with!

Ah...all I can say is what a relief! But to be fair, ED wasn't too bad. In the end I felt a lot more comfortable and like I kinda knew what I was doing. In the end, the night shifts were actually the ones I enjoyed the most because of less pressure, less people to deal with in terms of trying to admit a patient, and cos there's this really cool CMO who's on at night most of the time. So yeah, in retrospect, it wasn't all as bad as I might have made it out to be.

Now have to look forward to next term...general surgery at Campbelltown Hospital. Man I feel so insecure with my knowledge of surgery...I hope I don't look like a total dumbass! Like seriously, I can't even remember how to scrub properly and perhaps my greatest fear is stuffing up in some way in the operating theatre, eg by contaminating a sterile field, or dropping an instrument or something! But in all likelihood, I'll just be holding a retractor most of the time so how hard can that be right?! But I'm just getting over a cold at the moment so I hope I don't cough up gunk into a patient's open stomach or sneeze into my consultant's face or something! But I've heard that the surgeon I'm attached to is really cool and even a Christian! So I hope that might make things easier...

Anyhow, gotta have lunch now... I'll probably stay out at Campbelltown most of the week and come back home on weekends so hope to see you then!

Mission accomplished!

Well the letter arrived in the post today. Unannounced. Unexpected. Nervously I tore open the envelope, not sure whether to do it slowly, dreading the unthinkable, or whether to just rip it open and get it over and done with...

I got an offer of a GP training position with SIGPET!!! And what's even better is two good buddies got in as well to the same training provider! What people said was soooooooo difficult to accomplish has been accomplished! And all I can say is: what a relief! 29/33 was always good odds but man you just have to imagine yourself being one the four who missed out and your heart just sinks! Ah well...I'm just glad I got in to the one I wanted so I hopefully don't have to do my training too far away from home.

I guess all that hard work of bribing referees (hehehe) and whatever mumbo jumbo came out of my mouth in the interview was enough...

People of Sydney...watch out!!!

On another happy note, I did my last day shift in emergency today! It was great cos I had two super nice specialists on. It sucked cos a patient (not mine) came in with Meningococcal meningitis, initially looked well, but soon became a resus pt and despite all our efforts (mine involved running to Pathology/Blood bank to collect Cryo and FFP), the 18 year old pt died.

Understandably, there were tears in the department...

Time flies when you're having fun?!

Man I've been lazy with this blog! What've I been up to since I last wrote 9 days ago...???

Work's been busy. Have been slowly counting down my shifts in the emergency department - just 2 day shifts and 4 night shifts to go!!! What can I say? Some days are really really busy and I have no idea what I'm doing.... Some days are actually quite interesting and pleasant when there aren't patients pouring through the door, the patients are actually sick and should be at hospital, and the staff specialists and CMOs are nice enough to help me out (= tell me what on earth's wrong with my patient and what to do next!). But all in all, I think I'll just have a huge sense of relief when it's all over! I miss brainless ward work!

When I haven't been at work, I've been busy applying for jobs for next year and trying to get a training position with a General Practice training provider. I've applied for RMO jobs at POW and Bankstown - finally finished all necessary documents and uploaded them on Monday. Had an interview with SIGPET training provider on Monday morning in Balmain. Interview went alright...I was kinda um-ming and ah-ring my way through the interview but hopefully what I said sounded good enough for the interviewers! I guess a 29/33 shot isn't too bad odds! I find out if I've got a training position next week!!!

Other than that, I've been busy with church stuff as well! Chaired my first church meeting on Sunday! Was kinda nervous and spoke really fast as I tend to do sometimes but I got some positive feedback so that was encouraging! I guess there's a first time for everything and you only get better with practice! Then I've got my Preliminary Theological Certificate (PTC) exam on the book of Romans coming up on Monday and I've only covered half the course so far!!! Looks like I'll be in for some cramming on the weekend!!!

So yeah...not sure if I've been having fun but time has certainly been flying by...!

Busy busy busy!

Well another week goes by and it's been a great one! Had 3 and a half days off last week and mostly spent it with my aunty and cousins from Malaysia.

On Wednesday we had a nice fish and chips lunch at La Perouse followed by a full round of golf at Randwick Golf Course since my aunty's a golf fanatic! She loved the scenery at the course, even if it wasn't that well maintained.

On Thursday went to the city for lunch at a really nice Japanese place called Musashi next to Capitol Theatre with my godmother and aunty. Was kinda weird going out with 2 aunties but I love playing the host! We walked all around the city visiting Hyde Park and the memorial there and doing a bit of window shopping before having coffee at Myers.

On Friday went for a drive with aunty and cousin to Miranda Westfield. Had lunch in the food court there before walking around doing more window shopping!

So yeah - busy 3 days or so but really really enjoyed them and much better than sitting at home doing nothing like I probably would've done otherwise! Just finished 3 night shifts in a row. They weren't actually too bad and I'm really starting to like them actually even though I have always dreaded them.

Got a busy 2 weeks or so coming up. I got a interview with SIGPET, one of the Sydney GP training providers!!! That gives me a 29/32 chance of getting a place and I have an interview next Monday morning! Also have to apply for my Resident Medical Officer job for next year as applications to all hospitals close on 18th August so reminder to myself - get cracking! Will apply for Prince of Wales Hospital and Bankstown and don't really mind if I get offers to either.

In the midst of all that, busy with church things as well. Just finished preparing my last 2 bible studies on 2 Corinthians and will be chairing church for the first time this Sunday plus I'm on music this week. So busy busy busy!