Work Experience

I've had a lot of questions about work experience needed for medicine so thought I'd do a quick post about it.

Most med school open days will give you some indication of how highly they view work experience/volunteering in their application process but sometimes it can be difficult to tell how much you really need.

First of all, I would say that quality over quantity definitely applies here! No matter how much experience you get, if you have nothing to say about it at interview it is useless. 

When I first started voluteering (I probably fall into the too much volunteering category), I had something on every day of the week - scouts, buddy reading, care home help, stroke club etc - and used to attend and participate enthusiastically BUT I never really thought about what I was doing or what I was learning! BIG MISTAKE! It was only once I started reading interview prep books (which I highly recommend) that I realised I needed to be able to apply my volunteering and work experience to my answers.

A good tip I got from someone is to keep a mini diary - each time you go to your volunteering or work expereince sit for a few minutes afterwards and think about what you did. Jot down anything important. If you had a leadership role that day, write about it! If you had to deal with a difficult situation, write about that! Anything that you can talk about in interview, make a note of it! It will save you a lot of time and effort later on :) 

In terms of how much to do and what stuff to do- it really is a personal choice! 
Personally I think its great if you have something continuous for a longer period of time to show dedication. So for example I helped at a care home only around twice a month but did it for four years. Anything longer than a few months helps to show that you arent just doing it to look good on your application, but because you genuinely want to be involved! 
A variety of experience will be beneficial for future experiences with patients, but if all of your experience focuses on one thing (such a children) then this is also fine. Especially if you want to go into paeds! :) 

At the end if the day, you're going to learn a lot more from something you enjoy and are passionate about than something you view as a chore or a means to an end! Make the most of it and learn as much as you can about yourself and others from it.

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.

Run off my feet.

Last night I did my first night shift since early July and boy what a shift it was. Our night shifts are from 7pm to 7.30am so 12.5 hours of fun and games....

I arrived on the ward (which holds 28 patients) to find there were only four staff for the night, two nurses and two HCAs. At first I thought this must be a good sign - if only four staff were needed then the patients must generally be okay and it shouldn't be too busy. How wrong was I?! About 3/4 of my patients were all care patients, most of whom should not have even been on the gastroenterolgy ward. Five of my patients were scoring so highly on our early warning system (this scores observations, so normal obs would score 0, whereas anything abnormal can score from 1-3 depending on the severity) that they should have been on a high dependency unit!

The shift was so manic, I was doing hourly and two hourly neuro observations on 4 patients, on top of all the usual turns, four hourly obs and general caring...which means as soon as you've finished you hardly have time to do anything else before starting again! On shifts like that it honestly all comes down to your colleagues as to whether it's a nightmare or just busy. Thankfully, the other 3 members of staff were lovely and supportive so we all pitched in together and got the job done without too much stress :)

Shifts like this make me question the organisation of the wards in terms of staffing levels and the patients they accept onto the ward. If the ward sister saw what it had been like last night (which is apparantly how it has been for the last few weeks) I have no doubts that he/she would organise for another HCA to work as well, but unfortunately the ward sisters do not work nights and so will never understand the need for improved staffing levels. Frankly, I believe that it puts the patients in danger. If one of us is on break and two members of staff are with a patient then that leaves just one nurse or HCA in charge of 27 other patients. Even the most experienced nurse shouldn't be expected to do that.  But it isn't my position to say anything as I am only a temp...

On a brighter note, the F1 doctor who spent almost all night on the ward had just finished the course I'm about to start on! It was so lovely to speak to someone who has completed the course, loved it and is actually in the dream job!

Work

Sorry I haven't posted for a few days but I've been on nights at work! As I've said before, I work as a bank healthcare assistant which means I'm basically temp cover for any ward in the hospital. I love doing night shifts, which doesnt seem to be a common opinion but oh well.

I think working as a HCA is possibly one if the best ways to prepare for a career in medicine. Even though the job is completely different, it gives a very quick idea of whether or not you enjoy the hospital environment and the patients! I know a few people who have completely abandoned the idea of medicine after doing the job because they realise they are not suited to hospital work. Personally, I can't think of anywhere else I'd want to work!

So a bit about the job.... My main roles are patient hygiene, assisting with eating and drinking, doing observations (BP, oxygen sats, heart rate etc) and assisting with mobility. Different NHS Trusts will allow their HCAs to do different things, with varying levels of responsibility. A lot of what you do also depends on the other staff. For instance some staff will be willing to teach you to do other things once they see that you are competant. So I can now do bladder scans, remove cannula's, and remove catheters (I know that doesn't exactly sound thrilling but it makes a nice change!).  All in all it's basically about making sure the patient has everything they need and that everything you do is documented, which means a lot of paperwork!

The majority of shifts are drama and incident free but there will be the odd one where you leave wondering why you even bother. Last night I had a Patient screaming at me at 2am (he woke every other patient on the ward up aswell) because I couldn't give him any morphine. Even after explaining that that is the nurses job and that because one of them was on break his request couldn't be met, he still decided to threaten to punch me. Times like that I think the best thing to do is just not to take it personally, and to walk away!

I'm sure I'll post many more stories about work in the future!