Apologies for the lack of blogging it has been so busy, I have currently been working, moving house and preparing for interview eeek
Excuses out of the way, we get told this week whether we have an interview to transfer into medicine, wish me luck!
I am currently on GI & hepatic ward as a shadowing experience and its been very interesting. I thought I would give a little lay out of my day:
6:30am – wake up and read up on the liver and Crohns disease and scroll through all social media ever since these are the biggest things I will see on the ward
8:30am – Attend the ward handover with the nurses and doctors to see what went on in the evening, luckily a lot of the patients are being discharged because they are in good condition so it wasn’t ‘interesting’ per say but I am glad they have recovered and the transport for them to go home was organised etc.
9:15am – Ward round is normally supposed to start at 9am but its always happens to be late for some reason or another. But we were flicking through the patients records for any changes and updates for the patient to know for that morning. There is another ward round in the afternoon which is another update for the patient. Sadly some patients today were very frustrated with their time in hospital, it was very hot on the ward today which did not help and also its really distressing to be in hospital. Luckily the consultant reassured them and that seemed to really put them at ease about the following procedures and the follow up actions once they are discharged
12:00am – Ward round was slow today so we finished at 12:00, we stayed for a bit just chatting to patients and to see if they need anything or helped them get comfortable.
Today we got sent home early because the clinics are closed otherwise we normally stay in the hepatic clinic / alcohol support clinic til 5pm.
So I got to make some flapjacks from Naomi Smarts new book Eat Smart
It has been refreshing to see happy patients who have been giving up alcohol in the clinic after the doctor has told them they have one year to live. Some patients don’t listen at all which is also interesting to watch.
I feel its so easy to access alcohol at any hour of the day and I do not feel alcohol is not recognised as a drug…
This is really well covered in Prof David Nutt’s book ‘Drugs without hot air’
Professor Nutt discusses the concept of legalising drugs and raises the point of alcohol being one of the biggest drugs (as shown in the graph above) to cause harm to not only the user but also to others.
What do you think about alcohol?
Should alcohol be so accessible?
Food, Fitness & Medicine 