What They Didn't Teach You at Medical School (eBook)

Dr Alan Parbhoo is a Senior Surgical House Officer at the Royal Free Hospital in London. Concerned by how little medical school prepared the average student for the blunt reality of life in a hospital environment, he has written this series of chapters to assist in moving from the medical school to the medical workplace.

Contents 5
Introduction 9
Acknowledgements 11
A Brief History of the National Health Service 12
Modern National Health Service Trusts 14
Applying for Pre-registration House Officer Posts 16
The Pre-registration House Officer Is in Danger of Extinction… and What Will Replace It? 16
Foundation Schemes 17
Teaching Hospital or District General Hospital? 18
Matching Schemes: Job or No Job? 20
Finding a Vacant Post 20
Applying for a Post 21
Interviews 22
Surviving the Pre-registration House Officer Post 24
Introduction 24
Prioritising the Working Day 24
To Take Away Sheets 24
Note Keeping 26
Medical Notes and Medical Records 26
Radiographs and the Film Library 27
Equipment 28
Pre-admission Clinics 28
Out-patient Clinics 29
Admitting, Discharging and Transferring Patients 29
Ward Layout/Putting Things Back 31
Consent 32
Performing Procedures 33
How to Deal with the Death of Your Patient 35
Death Certificates 37
Cremation Forms 37
The Coroner and Post-mortems 38
Dress Code and Personal Hygiene 38
The Team 44
The Department 44
The Firm 44
Your Consultant: Keeping Them Happy 48
Roles and Responsibilities of the Boss 48
Staffing: Permanent Staff Versus Fluid Staff 48
What Does Your Consultant Need from Their Pre- Registration House Officer? 49
Why Your Consultant Does Not Know Your Name 50
What You Can Do to Ease the Pressure 50
Nurses 52
What to Say/Not to Say 52
Ten Things Doctors Do That Nurses Hate 54
Ten Things Nurses Do That Doctors Hate 55
Giving Instructions 56
Relationships with Nursing Staff and Allied Health Professionals 57
Radiologists and Radiographers 60
Requesting Investigations: Urgent Versus Non-urgent 60
Radiological Procedures: What Information Is Required and What to Do 62
Specialist Radiology 63
Therapists and Professionals Allied to Medicine 66
Physiotherapists 66
Occupational Therapists 67
Speech and Language Therapists 67
Dieticians 67
Referring and Requesting 70
Why Refer? 70
Types of Referral 71
Refer to Whom? 71
The ‘Art’ 72
Clinics 76
Out-patient Clinics 76
Fracture Clinics 76
Pre-admission/Pre-assessment Clinics 77
The Operating Theatre 78
Getting to Know the Staff 78
Learning Anatomy 79
Dos 79
Don’ts 80
Laboratory Investigations 82
Getting Registered and Applying for Senior House Office Posts 84
Clinical Tutor 84
General Medical Council Registration 84
Rotations 85
Stand Alones 86
Location 86
Where Is the Dole Of.ce? 87
Getting on in Your Senior House Officer Post 88
What Is Expected of You 88
Writing Police Statements 89
Going to Court 91
When Patients Are Mismanaged 92
Locum Posts 93
Postgraduate Examinations: Member of the Royal College of Surgeons/ Member of the Royal College of Physicians 96
Study Leave 96
Examination Structure 97
Courses 98
Clinical Governance 100
Audit 104
The Audit Cycle 104
A Break from the Norm… 106
Taking Time Off: How to Go About It 106
Taking Time Off: Applying for Deferred Entry 108
Taking Time Off: Before You Go 108
An Unusual Career 109
What If Medicine Is Not for You? 111
Index 114