Reflections on my first week
It's Monday afternoon now, and I've finished for the day, so I thought I'd take the chance to reflect on my (medical) experiences so far.
Beneath the slightly decrepit appearance of the hospital, things are generally a lot like they are at home in the UK- the junior doctors still work far too hard, the nurses work ten times harder again and get none of the credit, drug charts are still always going missing, and the parents are still worried sick about their children.
There are differences too though- from little things like our terminology (Caesars instead of c-sections) to larger things like patterns of equipment use (gloves? for bloods? never!), procedural differences (here, all urine samples in children are taken from a catheter) and variation in attitudes to treatment (UTI is sensitive to three antibiotics? great, let's give all three!).
Overall though, I've been surprised just how similar it is to be a medical student here. The idea of being thrust into a foreign hospital and expected to act much more like a doctor would was a terrifying thought, but after a week of trying to fill the day trailing after junior doctors as they fill out paperwork, I'm starting to wish that there was just a little bit more we could get involved with. Apart from Maria's one heroic day, none of us have done a lot that's particularly thrilling medically. Don't get me wrong, I've seen some conditions I wouldn't necessarily have ever seen at home, which has been really useful, but I do feel a lot like a burden on the hospital for a lot of the time. The Fijian medical students are starting tomorrow, so I'm hoping that they can give me some tips as to how they fill their time, but I think I need to start getting used to not doing a full day in the hospital!
For that reason I'm actually very glad to be here in Suva, and to have the girls with me- there's enough going on in and around the city that we can fill that extra time more easily (we've got plans to climb a mountain, explore Colo-i-Suva rainforest and go out for drinks pending at the moment, with others still to come!) and our little apartment is big enough that we don't cramp each other.
Overall, I'm very content here at the moment (though already missing the weekend island life!), but I would be even happier if the weather back in the UK could stop being so good while I'm away...
Beneath the slightly decrepit appearance of the hospital, things are generally a lot like they are at home in the UK- the junior doctors still work far too hard, the nurses work ten times harder again and get none of the credit, drug charts are still always going missing, and the parents are still worried sick about their children.
There are differences too though- from little things like our terminology (Caesars instead of c-sections) to larger things like patterns of equipment use (gloves? for bloods? never!), procedural differences (here, all urine samples in children are taken from a catheter) and variation in attitudes to treatment (UTI is sensitive to three antibiotics? great, let's give all three!).
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| Obligatory first-day photo |
Overall though, I've been surprised just how similar it is to be a medical student here. The idea of being thrust into a foreign hospital and expected to act much more like a doctor would was a terrifying thought, but after a week of trying to fill the day trailing after junior doctors as they fill out paperwork, I'm starting to wish that there was just a little bit more we could get involved with. Apart from Maria's one heroic day, none of us have done a lot that's particularly thrilling medically. Don't get me wrong, I've seen some conditions I wouldn't necessarily have ever seen at home, which has been really useful, but I do feel a lot like a burden on the hospital for a lot of the time. The Fijian medical students are starting tomorrow, so I'm hoping that they can give me some tips as to how they fill their time, but I think I need to start getting used to not doing a full day in the hospital!
For that reason I'm actually very glad to be here in Suva, and to have the girls with me- there's enough going on in and around the city that we can fill that extra time more easily (we've got plans to climb a mountain, explore Colo-i-Suva rainforest and go out for drinks pending at the moment, with others still to come!) and our little apartment is big enough that we don't cramp each other.
Overall, I'm very content here at the moment (though already missing the weekend island life!), but I would be even happier if the weather back in the UK could stop being so good while I'm away...
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