Placement, etc.

Now got 28 deliveries which is great- 12 more to go and I'll be in labour ward until Decemeber so I'm hopeful that I will get my 40 soon. I've been practicing my perineal repair/suturing on our little models but I can't wait to get in and do the real thing. One of my classmates has already sutured a 2nd degree with direction and was surprised how well she done.

I think it's a skill that will come in really handy in the future when I'm a doctor, along with cannulation (which I am reallyyyy looking forward to doing). Some other wards say we are cruel in obstetrics because we only use 16G grey cannulas, the reason being, if something goes wrong it does so extremely quickly, so pink cannulas don't cut it.

Academically, I'm waiting on my results from both essays. Hopefully hear by next week what I have got. I have a 3 hour exam in two weeks on acute and chronic pain- hoping to do quite well in it, but i've been told by a midwife who done it last year that it's nothing like the guidance and they all complained about it... Doesn't that sound oh so familiar :( !

On a more positive note: NEW MOON is out next Friday :D :D :D
I'm so excited!!! I have waited so long for this to be released- I am obsessed!

Labour Ward

Just finished my 2 nightshifts on labour ward which were pretty good.
On Wednesday night I wasn't that tired, I was kept busy so the night flew in and it was 7.30am before I knew it.
I was looking after a lady who ended up with a forceps because of a long second stage, on top of that, the baby wasn't the sex the couple had been told at a private scan so it was a bit of a surprise for them and us. (Our unit won't disclose fetal sex on a scan because of this type of thing because people have tried to sue the hospital for getting it wrong; it's unfortunate that it is ruined for everyone else who would like to know. )

Later on I got a knock at the door to see if I wanted a delivery of a prim at 8cms. I said yes straight away as I knew I would have time to build up a bit of rapport with the woman before delivery instead of just baby catching. I had to give her a lot of support as she was quite sore, but we had a lovely delivery in the end.

Then about 6.00am a lady came in via blue light ambulance, I took the handover from the paramedics and it was great experience getting the lady settled in a room and knowing what to do. Palpate, CTG, Obs, documentation etc.

Thursday night was quieter. I was looking after a multiparous lady who came in at 8cm on last VE. I thought delivery would be pretty soon, but on VE there was a rim. Membranes were intact and bulging so they were left alone, the head was still quite high.
A few hours later, still no baby so the registrar wanted to examine and do an ARM, cue the biggest gush of liquor ever! It was all over the floor.
Baby flew down and vertex was visible right after the ARM. I got my gloves on, then asked the conducting midwife to throw an apron over my head. The babies head was delivered and I slowly slid the body out... WOOOSHHHHHHH, 100 times more liqour gushed all over me, right up to my elbows, thankfully the apron saved my top but I had to change my scrub bottoms because they were soaked at the bottom because of the pool at my feet.

The midwife laughed and said that was my initiation into 3rd year haha!!

I got 2 deliveries over those shifts so I'm on 25 now, only 15 to go !

Pain

Following the horrendous discovery that my technophobe mother had deleted not one but TWO of my assignments last week, I'm over half way through (again) my Pain essay which has been really interesting. It's about the differences between acute and chronic pain and includes the physiological and psychosocial aspects of each.

I've loved learning about the physiology most, but the psychosocial and behavioural aspects are a massive part of my research.
I hope I never have something like chronic backpain, but working in NHS is like automatically signing up for it (despite manual handling tips and correctly following them). Assisting with breastfeeding kills my back, but that's never been taught in a manual handling course, it's always about lifting , which midwives rarely do as most women are mobile.

I just can't wait to get rid of these assignments !!!

Ahhh !!!

Really struggling to get these essay's completed. I've only written 800 of 4000 and 750 of 3000 with just 4 full days to do them; 2 study days and a sat/sun :(

Motivation please come back now !!!


Off to try and write these damn things x

Double Modules

I'm in essay hell!!! Two assignments- 4000 and 3000 word essays due on the SAME DAY!!!

I only really another 7 full days of writing which scares the life out of me... I take ages to write essays of my usual quality.
I NEED really good marks on these, especially on the 3000 word one as it counts towards honours grade.

Oh well, better get back to it !!!

Antenatal/ Postnatal Ward

Back on the antenatal/postnatal ward, it's so hectic (as usual) but I'm enjoying it, a lot!
I'm getting my own room on a daily basis*, getting to work with one of my classmates that I work really well with, more responsibilty as it's final year, and as always on this ward I really feel like part of the team- and they always thank you for working hard, which is really nice!

I'm run ragged all day and absoloutely shattered but it's been great so far :D

Only just finished my first week there so hopefully I will get to do a few inductions next week.
I really need to practice inserting propess for IOL- such a fiddly little thing and prostin- but that's a lot easier.
Also need loads of VE practice; I haven't done that many as people don't like students VE'ing them as sometimes it means 2 examinations 1 by student and 1 by midwife to check (unless you are a 3rd year student and confident of your findings). Should get loads of them when I go to Maternity Traige though!


A few other objectives I put down was to put up a blood transfusion by myself*, to give plenty of injections and being a general venepuncture vampire :


mmmmmm (Twilight is AWESOME!!!)


Also, really want to go to this conference during my elective time: http://www.cpp2010.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13&Itemid=10


* Under Supervision

Nights

I've been reading a lot of posts on NMM, blogs and a family member's facebook who has just started FY1 (Foundation Year 1 Doctor) about doing their first set of nights. We midwifery students don't get to escape nights and frequently do a run of at least 3 if not 4 nights. They're something I'm quite looking forward to not doing (compulsory) when I go to med school, but I think there a few places where I would volunteer to do nights like on A&E, and hadn't I done midwifery definitely Obs&Gynae- most babies are born at night, and we get a fair few deliveries on nights!!!

But there a few things I love about nights:

• We wear scrubs everywhere... not just on labour ward.
• There are none of the crappy 'politics' which some of my fellow cohort have had the misfortune of experiencing ie, we are actually allowed to sit and eat/drink tea/have our break with our mentor/other midwives and not be kicked out of the unit to the canteen (depending on who is on in charge ;) ).
• It's more relaxed, well before it hits 2/3am and everyone gets really tired and the red bull comes out.
• I have the opportunity to talk to doctors (esp FY1/2s and the ST1) about med school and being a junior doctor- which is great and some have even taught me their cannula techniques using a biro drawn blue line on a swab !
• I'm more likely to deliver a baby :)

Then there are the couple of things I don't like:

• It's scary in the hospital at night on the PN ward, ahhh don't like it!!!
• I travel 2 hours each way on the bus-train-busx2 so it's really tough, I get my minimal 8hours and literally get up have shower put clothes on and leave again, no time for eating a meal or even a quick bite at home, first bit of food will be about 2am, 7 hours since waking up.

Really don't want a set of nights on my last ever PN Ward placement which begins in 2 weeks :

The Year Ahead

As my 'final' year before qualifying is fast approaching, I've been thinking a lot about what is to come in the year ahead- specifically that this time next year I will have sat the UKCAT and will be finalising my personal statement and getting in any last minute experiences which will help my application. It's a scary thought, slightly dulled down by the reality that I will have to really push myself more this year, academically and physically, than previously.

Next semester brings double modules- my chosen degree module on top of the normal midwifery module- so an essay and exam, an OSCE and an incident report, all whilst I will be in the hospital on placement 'working' full time (the odd study day here and there, thankfully). The following semester ( if all goes well with the degree module) will be the exact same, only one module will be at honours level, and then there is my elective to fit in somewhere...
Study days will be rare, very rare.

My final, last ever semester prior to qualification is entirely placement, five days per week and not a single day of uni or a study day to ease our suffering. I feel this is going to be the hard one. It falls between May and August, so my application, PS and UKCAT will all have to be written/studied/practiced for on top of ANOTHER module ( for honours) which is the 'plan' to my research project... ahhhhh how lovely, I am soooo looking forward to this one*.

Work experience wise I'll already have my 3 years of placements- Labour ward, AN/PN ward, Community, Day Care&Early Pregnancy, Gynae Theatre (Loved it-made me want to be a surgeon), Gynae ward and I spent the day with an anaesthetist in the anaesthetic room which was really interesting.

Still, I want more 'doctorey' work experience so hopefully I will be able to spend some time at a GP surgery, one of the ODP's offered to let me go over to main theatre with her and see some surgery (so excited about this) and I'm going to try and shadow an F1/2 and an anaesthetist. I'd love to see a bit of A&E weekend action as well. The only prob is fitting it all in!



* denotes sarcasm :)

Holiday !!!

I am officially on Annual Leave for 2 weeks :D and I'm off on holiday on Sunday, I can't wait !!!

It's nice to have something to look forward to for a change, especially after the disaster that was the Obstetric Emergency drills- I got undiagonsed breech at a HOME BIRTH... totally didn't expect that one I said to my 'student' to fast page the obs team clearly forgot I wasn't actually in hospital (I was IRL lol).

I did deliver the breech, it was a Frank Breech so I had to wait ages on the legs coming down on the simulator, which kept stalling, my 'woman' was on all fours so the manouevers had to be adapted, I struggled with this although I have delivered a fair few babies in this position and I'm totally comfortable with it. I think it was just so unexpected that I was flapping too much to concentrate combined with the fact we have NEVER been taught these manouevers before.

We also had neonatal resus (again) and a PPH as I thought, neither went splendidly well and all of these were at the 'HOME BIRTH' which is fine apart from the fact that all the protocols we were given are for HOSPITAL!!!

One exam left and then it's placement for agessss. I only have 4 more weeks of uni over the next year and the rest is placement, I will miss the theory blocks- I wish we had more teaching and less self directed learning, I feel there is so much still to learn.

Study Days

I love study days when I don't have to utilise them as I should, but I have 5 days off including the weekend which is fab! I'm slobbing the day away watching episodes of House.

Next week I have an Obstetric Emergency run through- it's real time so I have to know the protocols inside out, and importantly know why I am doing something and not just how to do it.
We don't know exactly what we will get but I'm hoping for PPH as it's the most common and there will most likely be shoulder dystocia and pre/eclampsia. I thought it would be individual run throughs but it's in small groups of 3. I'm not sure if I would rather do it individually but I suppose we have to practice teamwork and delegation, and make sure there are people calling the docs, labs and porters and helping to do all the million things that need done at the one time. It should be fun as long as I'm clued up and able to function in the 'panic' whilst not panicking and not killing my 'patient'.

Debt

I was reading this article on medical student debt http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8126233.stm and I don't think the government provide enough support for medical students (especially Scottish graduate applicants).

Like many other graduates I will have to take out a Professional Development Loan of around £20-25,000 with an interest rate of almost 9% pa. As Scotland doesn't have any 4 year graduate entry courses there is no government funding for those taking medicine as a second degree, only a maintenance loan of 4400 (max) which any sensible person would use to cover the fees each year first and foremost. Even worse for me is that because my current degree qualifies me with a profession, I'm not entitled to the reduced fees that Scottish med students get (around £1700 a year) so my fees will be £3500+ by the time I begin the course. With a basic starting salary of 21k (£1322.00 per month after tax, NI student loan deductions) that doesn't leave very much money to live on after a whopping chunk of PDLoan repayment comes off. What a nice way to begin a career.

If only the Gov't provided the scheme here which they have in England: you are responsible to fund your 1st year and the NHS funds the tuition in years 2-4 with a means tested grant and a student loan available. It's a shame they don't have a similar set-up for the 5 year courses in England too.

Working my way through my next assignment today and hoping to write at least 600 words. I only have 5 more free days to write it over the next two weeks and I'm starting to get panicky. It's 3000 words over 2 parts so I've got about 1900 left to do in that time :

I wish I was more motivated at this stage!

The OSCE'S are over :D

(and just like I predicted, there was content which they denied would be in it but showed up anyway, but I was slighlty more prepared for it this time)

Got to wait about another week or so for the results. I wish we could just know there and then, all they have to do is add up. I'm so impatient!

Just been writing my next assigniment which is due in 3 weeks but it's going ok (so far).
I have an appointment with my tutor tomorrow to review my folder, so I'm off to ASDA to buy polypockets for all my placement reports.
My mum though I meant 'A Polly Pocket' little girls toy haha. I wish I was 5 again!

Setting the scene

The view from where I'm sitting hopelessly studying vs the view from my window, where I want to be lying out in the hot sun or over seeing the horses which are in the field by those trees.

Procrastinating

I procrastinate far too much and for too long. Yesterday was a lovely day, but I decided I had to study all day for my osces in a few days time. So I had a check of my emails etc and the next thing I know it's 6pm! I hadn't even opened a book or written a word, I may as well have lay out in the sun with a textbook, at least I would have done something whilst enjoying the rare weather :(

So before I have another day like that I'm closing the laptop and opening the books (and it's already 11.30 ). Time flies, even when I'm not having fun!

It's that time again...

The dreaded OSCE'S are back, except this time one of our topics is a little vague. When we asked exactly what we have to know about breastfeeding for the OSCE, the answer was EVERYTHING. Everything as in the anatomy and physiology? b/f support? Preterm infant feeding? the list could go on forever... we would like to have a little clue university people!

One of our stations should be fairly easy, examination of a placenta, hopefully as straighforward as it sounds.

The thing I really hate about OSCE's is that you learn it sequentially in your head, each step piece by piece and saying aloud what/why you are doing, and then the examiner says 'Oh, Just move on to bla bla bla' or some other thing that knocks you off track!
I hope I can improve my OSCE technique before med school, they are the only part I really won't look forward to.

Introduction

Well this is my first ever blog so here goes... I'm currently studying a BSc(hons) in Midwifery, but it became apparent almost immediately that I always wanted to know more; more anatomy and physiology, more knowledge into the human body and disease process and to do more clinical skills, etc.
Midwifery is great, I love it, there is no disputing that, but all of the above can't be fulfilled with Midwifery alone, many things I want to learn and do are simply outwith the scope of Midwifery practice. So I'm going to become a Doctor. There is just one thing that stands in the way: getting into Medical School!

As I'm applying as a graduate I will have to achieve a minimum 2:1 in honours, so I'm staying on as a student (I will qualify as a midwife a year before I will graduate) and jumping through the many hoops that are required to achieve a place at Med School, such as the UKCAT and hopefully a few interviews. This is my Journey...