End of term, logbooks and pregnant women.

Term is over (and last week was a reading week, so I wasn't actually in clinics). I'm very excited! We've got a fairly long holiday, which I plan to spend mostly at home, eating as much family-provided food as possible, watching TV and generally being lazy.
(Oh and I'll have to do some reading too, but I'm not thinking about that right now!)


This term has been fairly interesting, overall. A+E and Anaesthetics, my first half, were really good in that I got a lot of hands-on experience and learnt a lot of new procedures. Unfortunately of course you get ignored sometimes when patients require the doctor's full attention- I did spend a lot of time literally just following doctors around A+E... It gets very annoying when you're just watching them make a phone call! But yeah, I enjoyed it and felt I did a lot.

Orthopaedics and Rheumatology weren't so hot. Particularly in Ortho, very few of the doctors were interested in teaching at all, and I spent a lot of time sitting in the corner of a clinic, watching the doctor rush through seeing patients and referring them for surgery, without even a break to ask what was wrong with them before they'd got the next patient in. I thought they'd be more happy to teach in theatre, because that's what they like after all, but then they're too excited and into doing the operations to talk to you. So that was disheartening, and I was unenthusiastic about going in, which carried on into Rheumatology as well. To be fair the doctors were better in Rheum, and did teach us a fair bit, but there's no inpatients so not that much opportunity to practise clerking and examining. Some clinics were good though.



But at least I've completed the task which brings every King's Medic a huge sigh of relief...
I HAVE HANDED MY LOGBOOK IN.
The logbook is a book we have to get signed off whenever we perform a skill - by a doctor or other relevant healthcare professional - to prove that we can do it adequately. Everything from "washing your hands" to "examining the abdomen" to "delivering a baby", it's in one of these books and if you haven't made someone watch you do it and sign, you have no proof that you can do it adequately. (Until you pass your OSCE in it, assumedly).

I always start these books with great enthusiasm, which wanes throughout the term. I try to learn the relevant examinations, practise them until I feel really confident and then get someone to watch me do it. Of course, part-way through the term you realise that you're running out of time, that there aren't always the relevant patients available, or indeed doctors to patiently watch you do these (sometimes very basic) tasks, and you have to start rushing.

It gets to the point where you're wandering a ward trying to find someone watch you put gloves on: "can you watch me put gloves on? Have you got 5 minutes? I've got the gloves, I can bring them right here"
Or trying to make slightly irrelevant patient fit your sign-ups: "I need to talk to someone with a head injury, none have come into A+E but this guy bit his lip, so... that's on your head, so that counts, right?"
Or just trying to get something done that you haven't managed to cover in detail despite your best efforts: "I need to examine someone's elbow. I looked at his whole arm, which includes his elbow... I LOOKED AT HIS ELBOW, PLEASE SIGN ME OFF!"***

And then when you have it nearly complete, you experience acute logbook stress. This book, this small A5 paper object, represents an entire term's work. Should I carry it around any longer? If I lose it I've lost all my work... Should I take it home and photocopy it or just give it in so it's in already? What if the bus crashes on the way home and my logbook gets shredded? What if someone mugs me for my handbag INCLUDING THE LOGBOOK? A friend in the pub looks at your book and you're watching them like a hawk. "Don't spill anything on it, don't lose it, please just give it back so I can relax!"
...or maybe that's just me.




The last thing I had to do this term was attempt to visit a pregnant woman and ask her what it's like, and how she's planning to give birth.

...which seems a little redundant to me, seeing as I *know* people who are pregnant, right now. My friend from high school must be about 5 months by now, she's showed me scans and everything. In fact, I'd be surprised if anyone within my year didn't know at least through association someone who is pregnant that they could have a chat to, and honestly would probably be happier to chat to us about it than someone who is a stranger.
But apparently no, we have to go meet a random woman from our assigned GP practice to go and talk to. This makes even less sense to me as I haven't done my obstetrics rotation yet- that's next term. So I won't even be that helpful if the pregnant woman has any questions about her experiences.

What I found particularly amusing was the fact that there's at least 2 guys in our year who's wives are pregnant. There's a woman in our year who is either pregnant or has just given birth, but no, even they weren't exempt, everyone had to travel somewhere in south-east london to meet a pregnant woman!

So far 2 pregnant women haven't been able to meet with me. So by the looks of it I'll have to wait until next year!


***Disclaimer... these scenarios may be exaggerated.