Yet another long-delayed post. Sorry peeps, been sucked into a hell-hole in terms of work the past few weeks. Am currently on week 4 of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. Of all the hospitals, I got Lyell McEwin (surprise, surprise). Yes dear readers, those of you with bionic memory will recall me mentioning last year that it's roughly 54 bus stops away from the city. It isn't just the distance I'm pissed about though.
The timetable and student expectations are a little ridiculous. Let me explain why:
1. Most days it'll be from 8.00a.m. till 5.00p.m. Each student will take turn attending multiple sessions of clinics (WTF why are there so many: Antenatal, Gynae, Triage, Colposcopy, Complications of Pregnancy, Ultrasound, Midwives clinic). Each clinic session takes up half a day. Sometimes you'll be assigned to midwives clinics which go from 5.00p.m. to 8.00p.m. You also have sessions in the Operating theatre. Oh and don't forget PBL sessions and tutorials on O&G and Neonatology.
2. If doing antenatal & Gynaecology clinics in Lyell Mc isn't enough, you're supposed go to a hospital in Gawler (which is even further than Lyell Mc) for MORE clinics. Then when you're done, you're to come back to Lyell Mc for MORE MORE clinics/PBL/tutorials/Theatre/24-hour call.
3. We have virtually no time on our timetable to do actual ward work. I think none of us have been able to clerk and examine patients in the women's ward so far. And the head of unit expects us to present the patients during the ward round every week. Seriously how on earth are we supposed to do that? We hardly have time to sleep.
4.There are also various teaching sessions outside Lyell McEwin Hospital, such as STD clinics in the city, vaginal examination tutorials in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, family planning sessions in God-knows-where, etc etc etc. And for people who don't have a car like yours truly, it's like they expect me to pull a miraculous teleportation act or something. We're in Adelaide, not Star Trek! How on earth do you expect me to be in Lyell Mc for 24 hours call, and then magically appear in Hindmarsh within the next hour? And then after Hindmarsh, you expect me to teleport myself back to Lyell Mc for a tutorial. That's so impossible if you take the bus! It takes me 1.5 hours to get to Lyell Mc by bus from my house. That's provided that the buses come on time and I don't spend 45 minutes standing like an idiot at the bus stop.
5. We have to do 5 lots of 24-hour shifts in the labour ward. There's a signature sheet midwives have to sign off for every birth you witness/assist. You have to do a minimum of 5 births. Technically you're supposed to be in the labour ward from 8.00a.m. to 8.00a.m. the next day. You'd be lucky if you get more than 4 hours of sleep. My last shift was busy. Only got 1.5 hours. You'll also be lucky if they actually give you a place to sleep. Sometimes you have to shove yourself into a saggy little couch. I don't mind doing 24-hour shifts, seriously. What gets to me is that on most days they don't give you the next day off. Or at least half the day off. No, right after your 24-hour shifts, you are expected in clinic/theatre/ultrasound/Hindmarsh/wherever. And to top it off, there may be a PBL right at the end of the day. How do you expect students to actually learn anything if they've been awake for 36 hours straight??? Good thing most midwives and doctors (except the Prof, who designed this timetable in the first place) are sympathetic. Though there was one midwife who didn't allow one of us to sleep at all throughout his shift. And he had to drive out to this family planning clinic today and spend the whole day in seminars/lectures. Even doctors here don't do 24-hour shifts anymore. The most is 12 hours, and they're getting PAID for it. WTF.
6. The IMU students (4th & 5th years) had a nice Chinese New Year Eve dinner in Chinatown. Guess what I was doing instead? Inserting speculums and performing vaginal exams on a group of pleasant ladies in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Though the timing was not very convenient, it was a really good tutorial on vaginal examination. The simulated patients taught us everything and did a splendid job too ("No, no. You're not in deep enough. Press harder. Yes, that's much better."). It was a little bizzare at first, but very educational. It's good to see more women being more open-minded about their bodies and health.
7. How bout Valentine's Day then? I spent the 14th of February in the labour ward doing my 24-hour shift. Blarrdy.
So there. Not enough sleep, let alone time for study. Horrendously long travel time. No way to get around unless you've got a car/leech off someone else. All in all, it's been going ok. It has its moments. Thank goodness Aishah (a Singaporean girl in my batch) and I manage to get a lift from Jeremy (another Singaporean) on most mornings. And thank goodness some (not all!) of the registrars + Prof. are nice and keen on teaching. Still, I'm still pretty worried bout the end-of-rotation case/viva/OSCE. It's like after putting us through all the pressure and exhaustion, they expect us to magically acquire all the knowlege + skills to manage most O&G cases. At the rate I'm going, that is so not going to happen.
*Breathes deep* 4.5 weeks to go....
