WTF - Work, Training & Fun?!?!
Trip Start
Mar 10, 2009
1
5
6
Trip End
Apr 2009
London, England, United Kingdom
Saturday, April 4, 2009
So I've just finished up my 2 week stint at UCLH. Interesting is still the word that I would use to summarise the experience. I finished up the week in outpatients and started my week in mobiles. Now I thought that the x-ray department was huge. The hospital is just gi-fricken-normous then. Something like 20 floors in "the tower" another 4 somewhere else. Lucky for me I only had to stick to ITU (Intensive Treatment Unit - ICU sounds so much better) and NNU (Neonatal Unit - NICU sounds so much better). Still the challenge was still securing a card so I could get access to these places. Lets just say it was a hassle to be on mobiles without a card.
ITU has 40 beds and likewise I think NNU had 40 cots. You carry round a "bleep" that u get paged on and you have to call back to find out where you need to do ur next x-ray. The ITU machine is also DR. To all those x-ray type lets just say it is a sweet sweet machine. Its motorized, very light and easy to steer, awesome turning circle - could probably whip round and do a 720 between floors - if was I going in the elevator. Being DR, u take the x-ray and within 5 seconds the image comes up on the computer screen so the doctors can see if it's a great x-ray.
Enough tech talk - to the interesting experiences, because I heard everyone had a nice chuckle with the old lady locked in the room. First off, the accent. OMFG how the hell does my accent get confused with a New Zealand accent. Seriously bro?!?! The first time it happened, it was a shock, but for it to happen 3 times within 2 hours? The English seem so proud when they guess as well. I had this couple who were like "We've been discussing where we think u r from ........ and we think its New Zealand" They seem oh so proud when they say that. My face can't lie, they're like oh that's not right, to which I reply, it's the equivalent of calling u Scottish/Irish, The American/Canadian. Then they're like oh we're so sorry. Damn straight!!! If it isn't Kiwi, their second guess is South African ....... What the hell is wrong with these people, Australian?!?!?!
Gender reassignment patient - So picked up the form and read abdo x-ray. Name Penny (the surname was also appropriate but can't for identification reasons tell), Sex - Male. Hmmm that looks a bit odd. I show everyone else the form, everyone is like call the patient in to get changed, and see from there. Call the patient. This person was like 6 foot tall, massive hands, was very man-ish, ok definitely male. Read a little further into the request ........... gender re-assignment scrawled into the corner in doctors writing. Explained a lot!!! Lets just say that professional Chowie to keep a straight face was extremely challenging not to laugh. The voice was hilarious and he/she seriously needed some hair/makeup styling tips. But out of interest ..... Penny would come from ....Peter? Percy?
Training
So I had to do some Basic Life Support and Manual Handling training to be recognized by the UK. This was organized to be done on Saturday morning. Rock up to the place early and lo and behold I find Sara at the door. I hadn't seen Sara since we both graduated uni together. It was a ... hey .... hey what the heck r u doin here moment. Caught up from the last 5 years and then started this course.
It all started going wrong when it took 15 mins to get the projector turned on. Then Uche (the trainer) didn't know why the image was blurred - well angling the projector so it isn't front on means u can't focus on the wall - and being 2m from the wall wont magnify it too much. Get a projector stand - doesn't fit correctly and its slanted, but it was starting 45 mins late so we were like just get the fricken show on the road.
Manual handling was first up. Took him 10 mins to get thru one slide (there were 30) and it was just littered with too many personal stories and useless basic information - he had a discussion for 10 mins on which joint u'd like to break - your hip or ankle. WTF?!?!? Then its supposed to be a practical session, and he brought a hoist, but then the equipment he brought only carried a 180kg person, there was no one that big in the room, so we refused to use inappropriate equipment, so there was limited practice.
Lunch - The only decent thing of the day. Subway sandwiches, nice fruits, chips and dips - no complaints
CPR - Most of us had done a course within the last 12-18 months and were here just out of necessity. DR ABC still in basic form remains. Gold standard now is to assess airways & breathing and if absent compressions start. You don't search for a pulse. He was adamant that you still do, and because he was so good, he could always find jugular pulse. 10 minute argument later he accepted that you don't find pulse.
Chest position - studies have found that when you tell a person centre of chest and start compressions statistically it comes to the same place where people compress had they measured the old way. So basically don't measure, just go. He was adamant, that you find the centre of the chest by going mid-nipples. Both male and female!!! Argument sake he didn't get the concept of older females nipple position due to gravity, the shape variety of breasts, and you couldn't judge nipple position unless they were topless. Yeah massive arguments occurred with the female members of the group especially when he commented on theirs.
Breathing - He was stats from like 1995 with compress 5 breath 1. *Insert ba-bong wrong sound here* That was the final straw. Thank God for one of the girls who stood up and just said "Nothing against you personally, but whatever you are teaching us is just wrong. You might actually cause much more damage to the person with what you are teaching because it is outdated and incorrect. This is detrimental to my learning and I would like to sign something to say I was here but I would like to leave now" We all agreed, signed our attendance and started a mass walkout.
WHAT A FREAKING JOKE!!!!!!! Lets just say that the agency that organized this session got a couple of abusive emails on Monday.
Fun - Not really much to report. The G20 was on - didnt really get affected. British Summer Time (Daylight Saving) kicked in last Sunday. Summer - and it rained ICE the same day! I enjoy the Watched the Cambridge v Oxford Boat Race. Caught up with Rick Cannon at the Crabtree and randomly bumped into Rob Meertens there. The fun will begin probably this Easter wkend - Might head to Brighton or Bath.
Yes it was a massive read but hope u all enjoyed it. Keep the stories coming from your end. Thanks to everyone who did write, great to get news from home.
P&B
Chowie
