Doctor - Send Help!

She/her. Anaesthetics trainee in the UK muddling through day by day. Asks always open. Second blog @daisydoctor13

[vultures-nest]

im studying histology and i just like the little guys that work so hard to keep our organisms up and running

[tiktoks-i-enjoyed]

[depsidase]

[help-im-a-medstudent]

Ten people you'd like to get to know better

I got tagged by @thetireddoctor and only just seen it sorry!

Last song: I Love It - Icona Pop ft Charli XCX

Favorite color: orange, then a nice forest green

Currently watching: ooh i've just finished a few series in the last few days (Unchosen, Deadloch, The Stranger) but i'm on a Hustle rewatch, and the current series of Taskmaster

Currently reading: Book - The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules by Catharina Ingleman-Sundberg (slowly, it's not captured my interest as much as I hoped it would), Audiobook - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir - i haven't seen the film but the book has already made me cry and i'm only half way through

Current obsession: I'm not entirely sure I have one right now?

Currently working on: myself, really trying to get out of a slump that has persisted even after passing my exam, so i'm out running, improving my 5k time, trying to reduce the doom scrolling and try some yoga

Last google search: "[name of business park near me] inpost locker" because i was wandering round trying to find it to post a parcel

Tagging but no pressure @dxmedstudent @verityontheothersites @ley-med @randomramblesofaraven @batnbreakfast

[help-im-a-medstudent]

Not a typical day in the life of an anaesthetist, but welcome to my Blue Peter segment making fake veins in arms for ultrasound cannulation practice

Next up is making agar agar jelly which will be fun....

[help-im-a-medstudent]

Me to child: tell me what you want to dream about and I'll go and mix the right medicine together to do that, you've got a princess book there would you like a princess dream?

Child: yes, princesses and unicorns.....*very thoughtful face* and flamingos please

Me: ooh are flamingos your favourite animal?

Child's mum: i didnt even know she knew what a flamingo was

[help-im-a-medstudent]

Forget slicing your finger on a glass medicine vial, I've discovered a new anaesthetic injury:

Getting your finger trapped as a syringe driver decides to reset and close on you

The driver part just keeps trying to get to its off position, but the hook part that clips on to the syringe was twisted and also stopping me from pulling my finger up

Desperately im trying to turn the thing back on so it opens up, all while maintaining conversation with the woman having her caesarean section and not let on i am in a lot of pain

[sometiktoksarevalid]

[wheresonichedgehogwnt]

I am the tall colleague (5'10" cis woman) and I vividly remember getting ready to assist the shortest attending OB/GYN (approx 5'3" cis man) on a c-section as an intern for the first time

He was a doc of few words, but was reported to be a good teacher if you wanted to learn, so I was expecting to be hunched over the whole surgery but also glad to be learning and cheerfully willing to tolerate the resulting back pain

Instead, he looked up across the table, looked back at anesthesia, and said, "Raise the table for Dr. Hedgehogwnt, please"

He then looked at the RN circulator and said, "Please bring me a stool"

Then he looked up at me again, looked back at the RN circulator, and said, "Actually, bring two"

My preexisting chronic lower back pain and I will always be grateful for his willingness to stand on two stools while operating with and teaching me for three years, and I wish I could've gotten shorter to return the favor

[help-im-a-medstudent]

Me to the very tall surgeon: would you like the table up? You look uncomfortable

Surgeon: no I'm fine thanks

Also the surgeon:

[ley-med]

And they are somehow always assisted by the shortest residents barely peeking over the table...

[help-im-a-medstudent]

@ley-med today was this exact problem, as soon as the consultant de-scrubbed, the resident would be about to close, look at me and just quietly say "table down please"

Watching him and the quite short scrub nurse try to hold the patients arm in the air above their heads was quite entertaining

[help-im-a-medstudent]

Me to the very tall surgeon: would you like the table up? You look uncomfortable

Surgeon: no I'm fine thanks

Also the surgeon:

[help-im-a-medstudent]

Time for my first night shift as THE anaesthetist in the hospital

As if I'm allowed to just manage the anaesthetic for c-sections without a consultant in the building 😬

[help-im-a-medstudent]

Driving 1.5 hours to work then immediately have to get in the back of an ambulance to drive back to the city you started in (although slightly faster, with blue lights, sirens and a significant amount of travel sickness 🤢) is always a fun start to the weekend

[help-im-a-medstudent]

Primary FRCA? Completed it ✅️

(Thank god because it was an absolutely horrendous experience that i did not want to repeat)

[help-im-a-medstudent]

Winter olympics hospital edition: the ITU bed slalom

Transfer a patient from ITU to theatre past - another patient being admitted, multiple computer on wheels (that couldnt be wheeled out the way), a cardiac chair and through 3 sets of double doors, while bagging them to keep them breathing

[help-im-a-medstudent]

When you've got 3 hours to kill in between exams so go to a museum of surgery and anatomy and look at old anaesthetic equipment

That counts as revision right?

[help-im-a-medstudent]

Asked one of the scrub nurses to complete a feedback form about me then proceeded to take 30 minutes for the patient to wake up and be extubated, while the scrub nurse was waiting to go home

He asked if there was a free text box he could write how good i was at keeping patients asleep

[bougiebutchbinch]

ranking the best things I have heard surgeons say mid-surgery:

1. "Five second rule!" while scrubbed, after dropping a sterile scalpel on the floor (no they did NOT pick it up again but I swear everyone's buttholes puckered)

2. (spoken during the closing of a particularly long and difficult case) "Nurse - my tunes." :heavy metal starts blasting:

3. Gently to a fretful patient, pre-anaesthesia: "It's going to be okay. I promise, I've dealt with worse." As soon as the patient is unconscious: "This is literally the worst thing I've ever seen."

4. [okay this one was a med student] "Wowwww, that's so gross!!" Reg: "Please remember that [patient] is awake for this procedure." Student to patient: "Oh my god. I am so sorry, that was really unprofessional - " Patient, cheerfully, also engrossed with what's happening inside them on the screen: "Nah - it's, like, super gross, right?"

5. [another procedure where the patient couldn't be put under GA] Patient: *starts singing country roads midway through the procedure* Surgeon: *shrugs and joins in with surprisingly good harmony*

[bougiebutchbinch]

okay okay there's more

6. Elderly surgeon to the anaesthetist who is gossipping with their reg: "I need you to pretend you're in church." [weirdest way to ask people to be quiet, but whatevs]

Anaethetist's new reg with big, horrified eyes: "You mean we should start praying???"

7. Panicking rad tech: "Uhhhh my machine broke. I need to jump on this part and kick it, but I am not paid enough if I break it. Can you - "

Surgeon, casual as: "Yeah, sure."

:violently beats up the C-arm until it starts pumping out those sweet, sweet x-rays:

8. ODP to theatre assistant: "Saw the new tasche earlier. Suits you."

Theatre assistant: "Thanks! it grew on me :)"

Surgeon, pleadingly, within accidental snipping distance of the patient's spinal cord: "Guys, do NOT make me laugh."

[bougiebutchbinch]

OH MY GOD I FORGOT -

9. Surgeon using the electrocauter, leaning over the incision and inhaling deeply: mmmmm, that smell always gets me hungry. I'm having barbeque tonight.

New med student: 👀

[bougiebutchbinch]

and the classique:

Spinal surgeon: hey, that scoli's getting bad. want me to fix it for ya?

Me: I mean. There's a pretty long wait list

Spinal surgeon: yeah but I could do it tonight

Me: that would be very illegal, Jeff

Spinal surgeon: only if they catch me

[bougiebutchbinch]

New one for everyone!

We meet at the start of each day to talk through our cases and check any concerns. This is called the surgical huddle - or 'the hug'.

Patient in anaesthesia: last minute check but... you do know about [x important medical issue] right???

Anaesthetist, cheerfully: Oh don't worry. Me and the team talked about that earlier when we were hugging!

Patient: uhhhh okay [gets knocked out while clearly envisioning all of us having a big group cuddle]