I have now completed three months in the UK. The last week has been staid, but the work has always been challenging. The real pressure was during my taking of the Newborn Life Support (NLS) course on the 12th of the month. This is a full-day training-cum-assessment course that prepares the health worker to know how to resuscitate (= revive) a newborn baby after birth or soon thereafter (but within 1 month of birth) when they fail to breathe on their own.
The course format was teach, teach, teach, then interact, interact, interact, and finally, sit for an assessment that included answering 50 multiple-choice questions in a paper, followed by practical demonstration of the skills learned by the candidate before one or more of the faculty members, who sat in as examiners to evaluate the candidate. The teach part consisted of didactic lectures where the faculty went through power-point presentations, teaching us the knowledge of how newborn resuscitation works. The interaction involved creation of scenarios where the faculty taught us how to do the resuscitation on different cases, followed by simulations, where the candidate learned how to do it hands-on. Finally, we had assessment, which we needed to pass in order to get a certificate of the NLS course.
During the course, I met several doctors and nurses who were not only from our hospital (where the course was conducted), but from different parts of the region of NW England. Knowing them was the cherry on the pie. It was interesting to meet the faculty as well. One of our local consultants was the director of the entire course (Dr. Kate Goldberg). Our Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioner ANNP Liz Morrison was a faculty member too, as was another one of our Neonatal nurses. We had tea breaks, a lunch break and a lot of fun in between. All in all, it was a fantastically conducted course. I am happy to report that I cleared it.
In other news, life for me goes on. My duty begins with my arrival in the handover at half past eight. It culminates in the evening handover, usually between half past four and five. However, I try and stay past this time to work and get more experience under my belt. Making friends is the pleasant side-effect of working here. I must mention that I miss the doctors who left for other posts at the end of January. In particular, I would miss the following names -
a) Dr. Elisabeta Ene (Letty): She is a Romanian doctor training here since the past several years. A very nice person, Letty and I vibed well with each other. She has moved to a neonatology post at Burnley.
b) Dr. Ahsan Ul Haq: This very skilled Pakistan-origin doctor has been in the UK for over 12 years, and he has moved on to his new post in Burnley as well.
c) Dr. Michael Sharrat: He is a very knowledgeable and skilled second year Paediatric resident who taught me many things.
d) Dr. Selma Mohammed: She is a very capable Sudanese doctor who has also moved on to her next post at Burnley - which makes her the third middle-grade doctor to move on to Burnley.
Two other middle-grades continue to work here at Blackpool, viz. Dr. Yogesh Kuba (a fellow Indian), who is now a permanent staff member here, and Dr. Evelyn Chia (A Malaysian Chinese), who will move on after 6 months.
From the foregoing, it is clear that we have a mixed-origin work force in our hospital. This makes working here a fun experience.
That is about it for today. I hope you enjoyed reading this post.
P.S. I believe in sharing my experience with health professionals who are interested in taking the same steps I have taken over the last five years. Hence, if you wish to have help in moving to the Saudi Arabian health service or the UK one, do not hesitate to write to me.
The course format was teach, teach, teach, then interact, interact, interact, and finally, sit for an assessment that included answering 50 multiple-choice questions in a paper, followed by practical demonstration of the skills learned by the candidate before one or more of the faculty members, who sat in as examiners to evaluate the candidate. The teach part consisted of didactic lectures where the faculty went through power-point presentations, teaching us the knowledge of how newborn resuscitation works. The interaction involved creation of scenarios where the faculty taught us how to do the resuscitation on different cases, followed by simulations, where the candidate learned how to do it hands-on. Finally, we had assessment, which we needed to pass in order to get a certificate of the NLS course.
During the course, I met several doctors and nurses who were not only from our hospital (where the course was conducted), but from different parts of the region of NW England. Knowing them was the cherry on the pie. It was interesting to meet the faculty as well. One of our local consultants was the director of the entire course (Dr. Kate Goldberg). Our Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioner ANNP Liz Morrison was a faculty member too, as was another one of our Neonatal nurses. We had tea breaks, a lunch break and a lot of fun in between. All in all, it was a fantastically conducted course. I am happy to report that I cleared it.
In other news, life for me goes on. My duty begins with my arrival in the handover at half past eight. It culminates in the evening handover, usually between half past four and five. However, I try and stay past this time to work and get more experience under my belt. Making friends is the pleasant side-effect of working here. I must mention that I miss the doctors who left for other posts at the end of January. In particular, I would miss the following names -
a) Dr. Elisabeta Ene (Letty): She is a Romanian doctor training here since the past several years. A very nice person, Letty and I vibed well with each other. She has moved to a neonatology post at Burnley.
b) Dr. Ahsan Ul Haq: This very skilled Pakistan-origin doctor has been in the UK for over 12 years, and he has moved on to his new post in Burnley as well.
c) Dr. Michael Sharrat: He is a very knowledgeable and skilled second year Paediatric resident who taught me many things.
d) Dr. Selma Mohammed: She is a very capable Sudanese doctor who has also moved on to her next post at Burnley - which makes her the third middle-grade doctor to move on to Burnley.
Two other middle-grades continue to work here at Blackpool, viz. Dr. Yogesh Kuba (a fellow Indian), who is now a permanent staff member here, and Dr. Evelyn Chia (A Malaysian Chinese), who will move on after 6 months.
From the foregoing, it is clear that we have a mixed-origin work force in our hospital. This makes working here a fun experience.
That is about it for today. I hope you enjoyed reading this post.
P.S. I believe in sharing my experience with health professionals who are interested in taking the same steps I have taken over the last five years. Hence, if you wish to have help in moving to the Saudi Arabian health service or the UK one, do not hesitate to write to me.
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