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.
Thursday 16 July 2009
Thursday 9 July 2009
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'.
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'.
Thursday 2 July 2009
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.
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.
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