Apology

Maybe I owe the general British people an apology. They're not all bad. And despite what I said, I think that saying "most" are ungentlemanly or what not is a bit of an exaggeration. There have been a few that have colored my opinion and those are the ones of which I've spoken, but there are even more that are gracious and kind and wonderfully nice :)

Today was the last day of orientation. We did "Manual Handling" training which involved teaching us how to move patients. It was quite an interesting training session and very informative as well as practical. I learned how to use slide sheets, slings, hoists, etc. I think their methods of handling are ingenious and should be employed everywhere. Of course in the reality of the field, these items don't get used nearly as often as they should be, and patients aren't moved appropriately and safely every time. But at least the skills are there, just the application of such sometimes falls in favor of speed or just because of laziness. It happens. But the reasoning behind the use of these maneuvers and products is sound. They reduce the chance of injury to both the patient and the handler. They also make the process much easier and smoother.

There are many things they do here in the UK health care system that I believe works better than that in the States. An obvious one is that they have now gotten rid of all the white coats worn by doctors and medical students. White coats are no longer allowed as part of the uniform because it is believed to be unhygienic and spread disease and infection. Another thing is their "bare below the elbow" rule. No sleeves, watches, or jewelry of any kind below the elbow except for a single wedding band. Long sleeves have to be rolled up, watches placed on belts, and jewelry nil. Nothing hanging either and this applies to both jewelry and neckties. So while neckties are still allowed, they must be taken off or tucked in when seeing a patient. All this makes perfect sense from an infection control standpoint.

Today a few of us new SGU students here met with, Dr. Dryden, our clinical director here at the hospital. His specialty is microbiology and he was not what I expected when I saw his picture. He was pretty cool and seemed really interested in trying to resolve some concerns we had since coming here. For example, prior to our arrival we were quoted a rental rate of £300/mth. However, upon our arrival, our lease agreement had our rent set at £350, which is more than a 10% increase. Another thing is that the lease agreement ends our housing before we're actually finished with our rotations. Also, the lack of Internet. And much more. So it was nice to see that we had someone who would be trying to sort things out for us since we had no one to go to about that kind of stuff, or the people to which we had gone to have been unhelpful to say the least. He's also starting up teaching sessions specifically for us SGU students. Nice. He also suggested we meet up to hang out at a pub sometime. Awesome. lol.

I did a venipuncture today. Yay me :) It was difficult as this patient had almost no veins whatsoever. She had never had her blood taken, she was afraid of needles, and after I stuck her she felt faint. Oi. And she's not a bleeder. Even though I had a vacutainer attached, the blood filled slowly and she looked like she was going to pass out even as she was grimacing in pain. Sorry :( The SHO had to insert a cannula and even she couldn't find a suitable vein. After digging around for a while in one arm, she had to try the other before finally getting it in. She too was only able to draw a small amount of blood and she even used a syringe to do it. I hope it was enough for the vials, but there wasn't much in them... hopefully the labs will still come out on those. But at least I can get that checked off my list. She said if I came by next time she was working, she'd let me do a vaginal exam and a speculum exam. Excellent.

So I guess it's safe to say that today was a pretty good day :)