It is Lisa and Lara’s last day on ward 01 as they are due to start their rotation in surgery from tomorrow. As well as Lisa, Lara and Dave, we are joined by Philippa and Rachel, the two girls from Brighton and Sussex Medical School that lived with Ethan and Sam (before the guys finished their elective and went travelling). We go around with the consultant, two registrars and one house officer, along with about a dozen local students. The Casualty night is tonight so most of the beds are still empty. We think this is why the consultant labours the points he makes as he asks everyone questions, trying to fill the teaching time. In the heat I really wish he would stop.
We see another patient, the one whose mother came to the consultant last week saying that their child had been abducted by her father, and with claims that she is pregnant and has been beaten by her family. The child is there in front of us and the story is ever flipping and changing and I do not fully understand it because it has become so complicated. The consultant asks a group of students to go in the afternoon to interview their neighbour for a collateral history. The two Brighton girls volunteer to accompany them and the ward session ends. We have a teaching session for about an hour in the class room based on an infant who has lost weight and is severely dehydrated. We have heard from the students here that tonight is the Casualty night where they take in new admissions. Dave has been to one before and says that it is really great. Plenty of patients and you go in groups examining child after child, much better than in the day. That sounds good so all of us minus Lisa and Lara intend on going at its start time of 6pm until 10pm.
Philippa, Rachel and , Dave and I pick up some lunch and go to the girl’s accommodation in the University Faculty building. We eat lunch and chat. Dave is going to a local gym and says that he will join their home visit afterwards. I am going to Food City so we agree to meet at 6pm in ward 01 for the Casualty night. I leave them, do my food shop and strong sun pushes me back all the way home.
As the sun starts to fall, I pack my bag, dress in my clinical clothes, and am in ward 01 at 6pm. It is very quiet; nothing is happening. I look around and see no sign of the other elective students. They must be on their way so I take a seat in the class room round the corner and read my Oxford Handbook for a while. I wait a while before going around to check again, only to find the same situation as when I entered. Fifteen minutes pass… thirty, forty-five. Where is everyone? The local students are here but they are only taking histories which I can hardly join in with. They are not doing examinations and the local doctors are doing admin work. There is no sign of the elective students. This is definitely the correct time and place, I am certain, we said it several times.
7pm passes and my patience is wearing thin. I give it a few minutes more, check around the paediatric department and then decide that enough is enough. This is such a waste of my time. I figure the other elective students are probably tired out from their home visit as I think they had to travel up the coast a bit, and perhaps don’t want to come after all. My local phone is not working well so I cannot use it to check for messages. I decide to leave as the ward is just as it was over an hour ago. I am so disappointed. I was expecting a really interesting night. They also said that if we attend Casualty, you have the next day off. I feel so frustrated. Never mind, there is no use in feeling frustrated. I return home, watch a film and head to bed.
Ramblings Of A Med Student 