Intro for Anaesthetic Undergraduate Students

The student was standing on their tip-toes, peering over the drapes. They had barely looked at the ventilator, so engrossed were they in the surgery.  “So, are you here for anaesthesia, or for surgery?” our registrar asked.  The student turned. “Well… I am on my anaesthesia rotation, technically… but I’m actually interested in surgery.” Ten

Train your trainees

Sometimes, I think clinicians forget that they were inexperienced and under-qualified juniors once, too. There is nothing admirable about learning to place an intercostal drain on YouTube, without senior supervision, as many of us like to brag.

Finally had my “magical paeds moment”

The little girl had come in hurt and bleeding. No too bad, a small gash that was easily approximated and taped (gosh, I love steri strips). Next: the Tet tox. She doesn’t know about it yet. For a moment I consider not telling her at all, but she is old enough to feel betrayed. So

The Best GP Advice I’ve Received: Part 1

  The night before my first shift in general practice, I frantically messaged one of my doctor-heroes on Twitter (@sindivanzyl). I think I was hoping for a cheat sheet, something about hypertension and diabetes, but the one thing she emphasised was, “Please, please, always examine your patients.” For medical students that would probably sound absurd.

Sometimes I Don’t Want To Know

I didn’t want to know that the man with the compound skull fracture had fallen into a sewer drain while being chased by the police because he was the man that had been scamming poor people out of their grant money for months. I didn’t want to know that the man with the gangrenous arm

How To Run A Clinic Without A Voice

When I was asked by Figure 1 which one piece of medical equipment I valued above all others, I said “my hearing”. We were taught from the very beginning that a good history was our first step to an accurate diagnosis, and I have always valued a physician who LISTENS: to their patients, their students, their allies and their contemporaries.

Patience with Patients

There have been a few times in the last year that I was ashamed of myself. In this particular case, I was on Vascular Surgery Week. It is one of our toughest weeks of Student Internship. We started the day at 07:00 and never left earlier than 21:00 that whole week. The days were incredibly

Four Years Later: A Metamorphosis

Today this blog turns four years old. Technically a few minutes to midnight yesterday, but it’s much of a muchness really. Four years ago I wrote about practising speculum exams on sim-dolls in the skills lab. I was so embarrassed to do a bimanual examination on a doll in front of my male classmates. Everything was

A Simple Gesture To Make Gynae Exams Less Awkward

I’ve been on OBGYN for three weeks now. I had four weeks of OB in third year and four weeks of GYN in fifth year, and through it all the speculum examination has always been a bit of a nightmare for me. Visualising the cervix with as little as possible pain to your patient takes

Frequently Unanswered Questions

Long ago I answered some random search items that lead readers to this blog. It’s been three years, so here are some more. This one goes out to all the poor misguided souls who Googled something, landed up here and still did not get their answers. I apologise profusely.