First Day as a Student Doctor.

So today was my very first day as a proper student doctor (clinical year medical student). I must admit that I was fairly nervous about my placement and at the same time excited. I really didn't know what to expect and my biggest worry was not being welcomed.

Anyways I am placed in Upper GI surgery which I had done for 2 weeks before in first year. Technically I should be an expert on it. Obviously I am not. Today was induction day at the hospital and we got a hospital tour. The hospital is fairly large and because it is a teaching hospital, most of the doctors/nurses there are really helpful. I heard a few bad things about the hospital I am placed at such as consultants completely ignoring you and being rude. I literally have nothing to complain about today. When I was standing around with my partner on our ward trying to look for our consultant, we were approached by several nurses asking if we needed help looking for someone or something with a smile and genuinely wanted to help. It really made me relax as it seems like I am welcomed and that people are willing to help.

After induction/introducing ourselves to our ward, the search for our consultants still continues. After lunch, we decided to go down to theatre to look for our consultant as he is a surgeon. Bingo! He was in theatre all day. During the surgery, our consultant did a great job at showing us stuff and letting us take a look and he took the time to explain things. However, we were quizzed, but our consultant was really nice especially when we did not know the answer. After surgery, our consultant went over the surgery that was just done with us and I mean our consultant has been in theatre all day and he took the time to sit us down in a room and draw us a diagram of the operation. He took the time to run through the basic anatomy involved and took the time to explain each step of the surgery. It really showed us that our consultant is committed in helping us learn and I have a feeling it will be a good attachment with great learning opportunities.

As well our consultant told us his schedule and told us to join him whenever we feel it is necessary. I like how we have the freedom to plan our own schedule and I guess quite self-directed. Really gives us the opportunity to prioritize things and get some of our compulsory assignments done instead of being our consultant's shadow.

By the end of the day I got to admit my back was quite sore after standing for so long. Can't wait to get a really good sleep tonight as I didn't get much sleep yesterday.

Hopefully I'll update you with more things if I encounter anything interesting.