i've been on my gastrointestinal surgical firm for 2 weeks now and i'm really loving it. not so much the surgery part (which is cool, i admit), but because i have had a fairly good foundation on GI back in IMU (as compared to other systems :P) so i know exactly what is going on. surgeries haven't been particularly interesting so far, having only seen a couple of staging laparoscopies, a parathyroidectomy, laparoscopic cholecystectomies and felt gall bladders with multiple gall stones (multiple is an understatement, really. let's just say there were SO many they made the hair on my back stand on end). there were a few major surgeries going on like ileostomies and gastrectomies when i was unfortunately posted elsewhere for clinics and ward rounds, and it's seriously frustrating when some of your group members get to see (and do) stuff which you've missed out on. but i've got 3 more weeks on this firm so fingers crossed i'll get to see something cool before i move on to a medical firm.
another reason why i like this firm is because i have a really good firm leader who used to be an apparently-very-famous liver surgeon in Manchester but is now teaching full-time. we have long hours of bedside teaching with him and he takes time to really drill us (like how we can spend up to 3 hours standing around ONE patient, omg bless my back). he is the stereotype surgeon, only 5 times more extreme. haha. but he's a fantastic teacher and although we have to bear with his self-worshipping sessions, i actually enjoy listening to why he thinks he's so great. it's amusing that someone can think SO highly of himself, but the thing is, you can't really deny that he IS great; he knows everything, it's not funny. we were in ICU yesterday (ICU is a sad, sad, sad place :( ) learning how to operate those scary machines and going through what i thought was 2.5 years of physiology crammed into 3 hours; and you know what, i actually understand physiology of ALL systems more than i ever did before. i love medicine i really do. especially when i REALLY get it.
we also had a basic surgical skills class with him one afternoon where we were introduced to surgical equipment, learned how to tie knots and practiced suturing on pigs' legs! it wasn't pleasant at all, the smell of raw meat, but it was one of the best afternoons of my medical school life! though i still don't think i'd want to be a surgeon. :P
oh and i'm quite happy with my PBL sessions here because i have a good group with an even better tutor who's an endocrinologist. and since i'm actually doing a GI, Renal and Endocrine module (just that i'm currently on a GI surgical firm), we discuss cases from all 3 systems so he has been really helpful with his expert input (although he's technically not supposed to really TEACH us but he does anyway, and we like it). AND he makes us bring cookies to share! someone did suggest to bring alcohol but obviously that wasn't going to happen - how sad -because our tutor can't drink while he's at work, we can't too. it would be funny though, drinking while discussing liver cirrhosis. hah.
well that's basically it, really. i'm enjoying it although it's a little more hectic than i expected it to be (hey they told me 3rd year was "REALLY FREE AND EASY"). my schedule seems to be very tight especially this week, having to go to Chorley (another hospital) by bus in the mornings and coming back to Preston for afternoon sessions. one more week of this and then i'm off for 2 weeks of community posting in Leyland (another godforsaken place), and then i'll finish off my remaining 2 weeks with this firm before switching to a medical firm.
:)
i'm so glad the weekend's here. i need to clean my room.
