Awesome day

I had a good day today.

In the morning I dragged myself out of bed slightly early because I'm starting my one week in AMU. AMU is the brand-new unit at the hospital, kind of like an expansion of ED. To the untrained eyes it may seem like a bazaar where the different medical units come shop for their patients. For those in the know, it is a bazaar where different medical units come bid for their patients. I should explain later.

Hand-over served no more purpose than to watch comically the 6 consultants from different units sit around a long table, debating and jousting with knowledge of antibiotics. As my repertoire of antibiotics consist of 2 or 3 everyday use ones, and 1 or 2 oh-shit ones; I spaced out after 20 seconds, but it was fun to watch nonetheless. When we got to AMU, found the person in charge and introduced ourselves, we were told that ward round doesn't start until 9 and it was only 8:30, go have some tea or something. 10 minutes later I was enjoying my morning cappuccino from Hudson's. mmmm...first win.

The ward round at AMU is quite a sight. 5-6 medical teams, nursing staffs, clerks, medical students, interns, 50 or so people crowd around one white-board with all the patients' names and conditions. Each patient is to be assigned to a medical ward. Where they end up depends on negotiations between teams and the coordinator. Precious bed spaces and workloads are bargaining chips. As each medical team disperse to check on their own patients, we found our consultant, who wastes no time in sending me to assess a new patient.

I found the patient in a negative-pressure isolated room, he's quite slim, looks run down and extremely bored. He's my age, and is locked in this room with no TV or any form of entertainment since Sat night, visitors need to mask up to enter the room, so not many bothered. It's an hassle just to ask for a cup of tea. Difficult historian, rather dismissive about his symptoms, but I got it out of him anyway. When I presented the case and Dx to the consultant, he said that he's thinking the exact same thing. Second win.

The patient is rather standoffish, and there are bits of depression/grief issues and anxiety problems that were bubbling just underneath the stoic surface. When I talked to him alone later, he opened up, and agreed for psych team to come and chat. Third win.

Took blood from a friendly elderly lady who had fragile veins. It wasn't easy but blood did came pouring out. Had to use a butterfly and I left her a haematoma, so half a win.

Spent the afternoon at the clinic, we had just the one patient who turned out to be a medical mystery. She has had about all the tests and imaging known to man, or medics, done on her and they could not find a definitive cause of her problems. Anyway, she is very friendly also, showing me her bag that has all her grandchildren printed on, and telling me about them while the consultant is out of the room. Sometimes when you go to a clinic and the consultant is really stingy with words, there's this awkward silence in the room where you are not sure if you should make small talk or just sit quietly in the corner. What's worse is when the patient interacts with you, you are not sure whether it's ok to respond. Regardless, she's the second person I met today that smiled at me through her eyes. Fourth win and a half win.

Later, I found out about my rotations for next year. They were mostly high on my preference lists. Totally excited about next year. Another win.

Lastly, I could not miss a shot on the bball court tonight. It's like watching MJ play in first person.

I think today sums up to be a pretty awesome day.