A challenging week to say the least…
When I decided to start this blog, there was one thing I knew I never wanted to compromise on. Telling the truth. So, when it came to writing this post, I decided to sod the sugarcoating and give a true reflection of this week!
The mundane
When I drove my usual journey to work on Monday, I felt bright, refreshed and ready to save some lives. Because that’s what we all think ‘doctoring’ is: saving lives. However, it’s a lot more than that.
If you’ve only ever watched documentaries or healthcare drams, I’m sure you think that we turn up everyday and perform lots of resuscitations, emergency surgeries and save everybody who walks through the door. However, the reality is far less glamorous. You see, at the end of the day, as healthcare professionals, we want to avoid patients getting to the point where they need such interventions.
A typical day will involve these things happening, for sure. But we do a heck of a lot more mundane stuff. This includes incredibly un-exciting and un-drama-like things. For example, on Monday, I came in, received a handover, went to the ward and then frantically printed what felt like thousands of patient lists and blood forms. That’s because, especially as the F1 doctor, it’s my responsibility. It also makes sure that the entire team knows who is where, why they’re in hospital and what’s happened so far.
Now I know this sounds incredibly boring. This doesn’t sound like Grey’s Anatomy! But most of the time, this is the first job of the day. And although this doesn’t sound, or particularly look very exciting; it’s perhaps the most important part of the day. You can’t resuscitate and do the exciting stuff for someone you know absolutely nothing about!
The difficult
Moving swiftly on to something slightly more interesting. The ward round.
If you have no idea what a ward round is, fret not! Just like dark magic, it is sacred, frightening and poorly understood. However, it is a staple to good quality, evidence-based healthcare. Essentially, it’s a chance for us medics to see our patients, make decisions and recognise those who may be in need of more help.
An absolutely critical part of the ward round is having a team if doctors of varying seniority. In an ideal, well-funded world, we would have at least one F1, an SHO or two, a registrar and a consultant on the ward round. This would allow for more decisions to be made and actioned as we go along.
Unfortunately, we do not live in such a system. Although hopefully things may change.
This means, that most of the time there may be a single F1 with either one SHO or one registrar. Sometimes there will be a consultant in addition, to see the sickest patients.
Now then, you don’t need to be an expert to realise that the reality is lightyears away from the ideal. And this is where the problems start.
Mathematical impossibilities
Let’s take an example.
There are 35 patients to be seen. On a typical day, 30 of these need bloods, 15 of these need scans, 8 of these need active surgical intervention.
Now I have just done something I would never, and would encourage others never to do. Boil real, human patients down to numbers. But for the purpose of demonstration, I will leave it there.
It may seem from these numbers that 35 patients will only produce 35 jobs to do. However, if everything goes well, this will produce (at an absolute minimum) 88 jobs to do. These jobs will all need to be completed between the time the ward round ends to the end of the day. If the stars align, and the healthcare gods feel extra kind, your ward round might last from 8am to 11am. Leaving you with 6 hours to do every job before finishing the day at 5pm.
If you’re a mathematical genius, you may have calculated this as 14.7 jobs per hour. If you’re a realistic person, you’ll know that this is unachievable for one person to do. Especially if this person is to eat lunch, go to the toilet and wait for computers to load.
The good in the bad and the ugly
Luckily, you are in a team. Your team can absolutely make or break your day. Thankfully, my fellow F1s are fantastic, which makes life a lot easier as you can spread out the jobs amongst you. However, everyone also has their own set of jobs to do, so it’s not always possible to share things out completely evenly – but as the best meal deal provider says: every little helps.
Have a breather and get back to work with a fresh, clear mind (and bladder!)
So, what about this secret toilet?
Well, every now and again, things can get quite overwhelming. And this week, it happened a lot.
So much to do, in so little time.
It’s not an ideal system we work in, and things can be very hard. However, we must remain professional and provide the best possible care. My way of ensuring this is escaping to my secret toilet. It’s a place where I can have a moment to myself. To breathe. To collect myself. Most importantly, to wee in peace!
Having a place where you can escape to and get yourself together is very important. In my case it’s a toilet. But it can be anywhere! At the end of the day, if you are constantly stressed, overwhelmed and unable to function, you can’t be your best.
So, my advice? Find yourself a secret toilet. Have a breather and get back to work with a fresh, clear mind (and bladder!)
I hope you enjoyed reading this week! Stay tuned for more
Dr Steff