In this post, I am going to describe whatever I have learned so far about the department of Paediatrics in Blackpool Victoria Hospital. Every day, I reach the department's doctor's room within the ward at half past eight in the morning. All the doctors who have either completed the night duty, or are coming in for the morning shift are there, along with senior staff, the ward nurse(s) and other liaising personnel.
Our department has over half a dozen consultants. The head of the department is Dr. Peter Curtis, with whom I have been conversing all these days. The consultants do the hand-over sessions in the doctors' room, then go to the wards (either the paediatric, newborn or post-delivery) or the out-patients' department (OPD), while the residents distribute themselves according to their schedules between each of these departments. The hand-over (where the night doctors discuss the cases and how they managed them during their shift) takes about 15-30 minutes. All patient data is documented on A4 sheets, which everyone gets a copy of, while the "incoming" doctors note down the things they need to do or follow-up on. The outgoing residents also hand over their "bleepers" (pagers - yes, they still use them here) to the incoming ones. The atmosphere is very informal and congenial, and everyone addresses each other by their first (or whatever names they would like to be addressed with) names. Some even continue to eat their breakfasts from their boxes, or sip their tea or coffee while the hand-over is taking place!
After the hand-over, I have generally gone to the OPD, where I join one of the consultants or the staff to observe while they see patients who are there by prior appointment. These sessions are very educative, as I get the chance to see how the consultants communicate with the patients and their care-takers (usually parents). The OPD nurse usually brings a cup of tea or coffee for both, the consultant and me, but usually after the initial rush of patients is over. Patients are quite happy to be in the OPD as it has a very colourful look, with hundreds of toys, books and activity stations both in the waiting area as well as inside the rooms. My previous post would give you a glimpse of the way the OPD looks.
I have yet to see the functioning of the wards and the high-risk areas, but all in all, the work here is very systematic. Consultants must, after they have finished seeing the patients in the OPD, use a dictaphone to electronically write up letters to the G.P. who has sent each patient. The secretary would type out letters afterwards and send them to the respective general practitioner.
Every Wednesday afternoon, there are grand rounds in the education department of the hospital, where all the staff and residents meet to discuss patients of the past week that went by. In addition to these, there are other teaching and learning activities which are usually going on here and there, but I have yet to understand all these things fully.
All in all, I am waiting to be cleared by the health department of the hospital (the so-called Occupational Health Department) to begin working with patients. This may take a while yet, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that it happens sooner than later.
Our department has over half a dozen consultants. The head of the department is Dr. Peter Curtis, with whom I have been conversing all these days. The consultants do the hand-over sessions in the doctors' room, then go to the wards (either the paediatric, newborn or post-delivery) or the out-patients' department (OPD), while the residents distribute themselves according to their schedules between each of these departments. The hand-over (where the night doctors discuss the cases and how they managed them during their shift) takes about 15-30 minutes. All patient data is documented on A4 sheets, which everyone gets a copy of, while the "incoming" doctors note down the things they need to do or follow-up on. The outgoing residents also hand over their "bleepers" (pagers - yes, they still use them here) to the incoming ones. The atmosphere is very informal and congenial, and everyone addresses each other by their first (or whatever names they would like to be addressed with) names. Some even continue to eat their breakfasts from their boxes, or sip their tea or coffee while the hand-over is taking place!
After the hand-over, I have generally gone to the OPD, where I join one of the consultants or the staff to observe while they see patients who are there by prior appointment. These sessions are very educative, as I get the chance to see how the consultants communicate with the patients and their care-takers (usually parents). The OPD nurse usually brings a cup of tea or coffee for both, the consultant and me, but usually after the initial rush of patients is over. Patients are quite happy to be in the OPD as it has a very colourful look, with hundreds of toys, books and activity stations both in the waiting area as well as inside the rooms. My previous post would give you a glimpse of the way the OPD looks.
I have yet to see the functioning of the wards and the high-risk areas, but all in all, the work here is very systematic. Consultants must, after they have finished seeing the patients in the OPD, use a dictaphone to electronically write up letters to the G.P. who has sent each patient. The secretary would type out letters afterwards and send them to the respective general practitioner.
Every Wednesday afternoon, there are grand rounds in the education department of the hospital, where all the staff and residents meet to discuss patients of the past week that went by. In addition to these, there are other teaching and learning activities which are usually going on here and there, but I have yet to understand all these things fully.
All in all, I am waiting to be cleared by the health department of the hospital (the so-called Occupational Health Department) to begin working with patients. This may take a while yet, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that it happens sooner than later.
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