Life Savers

Last night I worked a shift on 'Step down' which is where patients are sent if they aren't sick enough for ICU but are too sick to go to a ward.

At first the shift was pretty horrendous, the nurses were too busy to really explain what I needed to do and so until I found out what was expected of me I felt very much like a spare part...

But then something great happened... an F2 turned up. An F2 who used to be a GEM and who was so enthusiastic about her job and medicine that she spent a good portion of her night teaching me!
Honestly, I was thanking God all night for her appearance (Step down units really aren't a HCA strong place- there isn't much I can do when the patients are that poorly)!

This F2 allowed me to watch her perform examinations, explained ECGs to me in the most simple, perfect way, explained all the blood tests and liver function tests and then taught me how to take blood! Not bad to what I thought was going to be a write off of a shift!

Doctors who have that much enthusiasm and love for their job are the people who inspire me to work harder and be the best I can be, especially when my GP tutor spends all her time telling me she wishes she'd done dentistry! Medicine is a vocation, and meeting doctors like this F2 give me great faith in my future profession and our healthcare system :) I only hope in 4 years I will be like her and have the ability to inspire and teach a HCA in my position.