First Day

My new ward is really nice. The people I'm working with seem very close and friendly. This is definitely an environment I can happily spend the next three months in. I was a little amused that the only full time mentor I have has an equal(or lower) level of qualification than myself. She is a healthcare assistant. Fortunately for me shes a very experienced HCA. We may have the same textbook knowledge but in the world of healthcare experience means a hell of a lot more. My primary mentor is a sister and shes currently on annual leave. My secondary mentor is only a part-timer.

Most of the patients on this ward(acute repiratory medical) are not in fact suffering from respiratory conditions. This is a common in the NHS. At any one time you wont find a specialist ward with enough patients for that specialty. However more generic wards usually find themselves full. My last ward was an elective orthopaedic surgical ward. The patient turnover was insanely quick because the NHS is trying to cut its waiting lists down. This means getting a patient in, operated on and discharged as quickly as possible. The ward managed to do this without negating patient care. Towards the end of my stay there about a quarter of the patients were not orthopaedic, they were vascular.

A solution to his is not to expand the wards that are always over flowing, because there are no consistancies in which wards need more beds. One month there may be too many cardiac patients, the next month there may be very few cardiac patients but too many urological patients. This is why wards like 'Elderly Acute Care' have been created. If the patient is not in direct need of very specialist supervision then they can be placed on this ward where the staff are of mixed disciplinary backgrounds. One bay in this ward may have patients for urology, cardiology, neurology and pulmonology. The idea is a good one.

I hope my ward gets a few more respiratory patients soon, not that cellulitis, and hep C arent facinating but I was hoping experience in acute respiratory care would serve me well in my critical care future.

I cant believe how out of shape I am. Since the end of my last placement on March 14th I have put on 13kg and have gone from a 34" waist to a 36. I spent most of yesterday sweating. Fortunatley I wasnt the only one. It was a hot day and apparently the ward was very busy. However what this ward is calling busy was a moderately quiet day on my last ward. This was a surprise.