Gradually, I am beginning to live the life of the title of this blog! It has been nearly a fortnight since I started on the full rota with holding the crash bleep. It has been a great experience so far. The consultants who work with me are also observing my progress with interest. I have to do this until mid-April, after which I should probably go back to my earlier routine.
So, how has it been? Well, to tell you the truth, I am no longer doing registrar duties. I should add the word "almost" here since I did get called to do a clinic on one of my long days. As a SHO, I now carry the crash bleep, attend emergency calls, take referrals, and so on. It has begun to show me the correct way to handle cases. Well, I should qualify the word "correct". By this, I mean the way things are done in my hospital, and broadly speaking, the way it is done in NHS England. These guys do everything by looking at the evidence or by looking at protocols. It is not exactly similar to the way we did things back in India. I must admit, though, that following rules and protocols does make up for better practice of medicine.
So, what duties have I done? I started off with a couple of night duties, then went on to do four long days (which simply means 12 1/2 hours of continuous work from 08:45 to 21:15 hours), and three other assorted duties ranging from between six to eight hours. In addition, I also got 2 mornings and three full days off.
This change of duties has also thrown my life a bit out of gear. Before the start of February, my life was simpler: I worked eight hours a day, fixed timings, from Monday to Friday. On the weekend, I had the option of going elsewhere to do locum shifts and augment my usual income. Additionally, I have also begun to mostly eat home-cooked food and avoid eating at the hospital's Oliver restaurant. My food has, therefore, become a lot healthier, although I still nibble at junk food from time to time. The other change that has happened is that, because I am now "first on", I have to walk a lot more. I am now averaging nearly 4 to 4.5 km of walking every duty day!
The flip side of all this is that I do get a lot more tired at the end of a long duty; I eat at odd hours; I don't get the time to call my family much, and I miss my old routine. Be that as it may, I do enjoy this change in my routine and look forward to this work. The day after I write this, I am scheduled to do a duty from 13:00 to 21:15 hours ...
Do leave your comments below. Thanks for reading.
So, how has it been? Well, to tell you the truth, I am no longer doing registrar duties. I should add the word "almost" here since I did get called to do a clinic on one of my long days. As a SHO, I now carry the crash bleep, attend emergency calls, take referrals, and so on. It has begun to show me the correct way to handle cases. Well, I should qualify the word "correct". By this, I mean the way things are done in my hospital, and broadly speaking, the way it is done in NHS England. These guys do everything by looking at the evidence or by looking at protocols. It is not exactly similar to the way we did things back in India. I must admit, though, that following rules and protocols does make up for better practice of medicine.
So, what duties have I done? I started off with a couple of night duties, then went on to do four long days (which simply means 12 1/2 hours of continuous work from 08:45 to 21:15 hours), and three other assorted duties ranging from between six to eight hours. In addition, I also got 2 mornings and three full days off.
This change of duties has also thrown my life a bit out of gear. Before the start of February, my life was simpler: I worked eight hours a day, fixed timings, from Monday to Friday. On the weekend, I had the option of going elsewhere to do locum shifts and augment my usual income. Additionally, I have also begun to mostly eat home-cooked food and avoid eating at the hospital's Oliver restaurant. My food has, therefore, become a lot healthier, although I still nibble at junk food from time to time. The other change that has happened is that, because I am now "first on", I have to walk a lot more. I am now averaging nearly 4 to 4.5 km of walking every duty day!
The flip side of all this is that I do get a lot more tired at the end of a long duty; I eat at odd hours; I don't get the time to call my family much, and I miss my old routine. Be that as it may, I do enjoy this change in my routine and look forward to this work. The day after I write this, I am scheduled to do a duty from 13:00 to 21:15 hours ...
Do leave your comments below. Thanks for reading.
It's good to know that you are enjoying and learning. All the best
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