A&E...full of drama:)

Sorry muchie for these 3 weeks of MIA! Am alive and well...and i'm BACK to Manchester! Lol...the place i call 'home' in UK...:) So this post will be about my 3 weeks stay in Tameside General Hospital..the 'ulu' yet exciting place! And I must say, this is the BEST attachment I have done so far..

Reflecting back how I got this placement was really God sent. For this SSC, I was supposed to do a district placement, which means, it's a MUST for me to do in a hospital FAR FAR away from Manchester itself. Unfortunately, all those placements that I'm interested in were all taken up and I was only left with 2 choices which weren't in my list at all!::1) Elderly care in Rochdale or 2) A&E in Tameside General Hospital. Though I have interest in elderly care, somehow, i picked A&E in Tameside, despite the bad reputations and all complaints written in the press recently. But it turned out to be an AWESOME attachment and I enjoyed every bits of it, even though i had to go in everyday, 9am to 5pm or shift like 1pm to 10 pm( of coz i skyve a few hours at times...am just physically drained at the end of the day) and weekends!

Let's join me along my 3 weeks journey in Tameside General Hospital! Few of my pics in it coz I hav nobody to take pictures with..am a LONE ranger there! :'(

Welcome to Tameside General Hospital. This is where i worked for the past 3 weeks..A&E Department.
And the path to my accomodation! :)

and as you walk in, you could see this lovely common room on your right. Sadly, I am the only one staying in my whole flat! Nobody there to chitchat or hav a cuppa with me:(
and right opposite the common room, is the toilet and bathroom:)and tadaa...my bedroom! There is a basin there too..and guess what, the whole room is actually BIGGER than my room in Manchester..Lol! I lurve the table lamp most!
and this is my favourite room of all! The small cozy kitchen, well equipped with microwave oven, toaster, big fridge, stove and a tiny dining table:)I lurve to hv my breakfast on the table, egg on a toast, with cup of hot milk, while reading the book 'Captivating'( This book reminds me how beautiful i am created. It says: The essence of a woman is Beauty. She is meant to be the incarnation of a captivating God:)

so gurls..don't think you're ugly..we're all beautiful in His eyes!

:)...overseeing the beautiful creation of God.LIFE is a blisS..
the view..Lol! Basically stalking any hot doctors walking out from the building opposite!

joking joking~

and my dinner..Maggie type 1-goreng style:P

Maggie type 2: Soup styleand the best dinner of all was when Lily fried rice with black pepper for me and froze it to bring over...*aww...touched indeed* TQ dear!

my only source of connection to the outside world! The LIBRARY's computer! WORST part of getting here is that I need to go to the Security department to get the keys, which is about 15 mins walk away from my work place. Then to get to library is another 10 mins! And the keys need to be returned right after using the it..so hv to walk back to the security department! And finally to get home, is another 15 mins walk..a nuisance indeed! And see all those books n journals on the desk? I was camping there till 12am for the last 2 nights alone, just to finish up my case report! To make things more complicated, we're not allowed to use our thumbdrive there! Which means, all documents will hv to save n sent via emails...kelian ar!

Pheww...I have gone through all those..by God's grace indeed!

And these are the very nice people I work with:)

Meet my dear consultant, Miss Contractor!

Dr Kakade and Dr Ghafoor! Both are doctors locuming there. Dr Kakade is a very seniors staff grade there. He used to work as a GP in Aussie too. Then return to UK and guess what, he is super interested in Chinese zodiac a nd just from the year, he could tell what zodiac you are! Plus, he knows well about each zodiac's personality too! Lol....super intense! Not only that, he has a diploma in art, and he has gone thru trainings in plastic surgery, orthopaedics and loads more! Think he wanted to be a neuro surgeon initially, but gave up due to some commitments. But he is one of the senior doctor who is so patient with me. I could rmb when once we saw a patient who cut his hand via a grinding machine and needed some stitches. He was the one who taught me steps by steps like how to tie the knots, where to go in and all...Thank God, the patient was kind enuff to let me practise, despite the blood kept oozing a bit..lol!

and Dr Ghafoor is the most cheerful doctor there! Though the tense environment in A&E, he is always spotted with the sunny almond eye smile! Everybody LOVES him...lol. And of coz, he taught me quite a bit too:)

and Dr Thompson! This is the guy i was first allocated to shadow by my consultant! He is one of the locum doctor too, just finished his FY2 training i guess, but he is really funny guy whom remember my name throughout this placement! 'Angelene here, Angelene there..wakkakkaka' Impressive indeed! His girfren and he are one couple who taught me quite a lot throughout my placement there and always asking me questions and trigger my brain to think wat are the possible differentials in patients we saw! Challenging but very helpful and learned LOADS!

and Amanda! One of the nicest nurse there!

Really enjoyed working with these bunch of nurses there because they're SOOO efficient! They are the ones who put cannulaS in and take the ECGs, way b4 the doctors come and see the patients. So me being the kiasu one, thickened my face and asked them to let me do instead! And happily they let me perform cannulations, venepuncture, ECG, catheterization, urinalysis and even ABGs! To be honest, the cannulations I put in within these 3 weeks are far more what I put in within the WHOLE of my 3rd year! Practise makes perfect and the only way to be better is to do more and I thank God for putting people like these to supervise me and build up my confidence:)

Not to forget patients there are exceptionally nice toO!

I could rmb vividly once when I was asked to take some blood off this lady's wrist to check for arterial blood gas. She was quite unwell and i went in myself, explained to her that I needed some blood from her wrist and will cause much pain. I even warned her that I might hv to poke her a few times to get the blood because getting blood from there is far more harder since we cant see the vein but could only gauge by feeling the pulse on the wrist!

I took extra precautions because I didnt want to injure her twice. I went in first time, and I could see her face twinge slightly, indicating pain, but she didnt say anything. To my horror, no blood was pumping up..*oh nooOo, my brain alarmed!! i didnt hit the artery properly!* So I draw the needle out slowly and apologized. She just give me a smile and I told her am going to have another try, making sure she is fine with it, and she agreed without any complaint! So I tried and what a big relief, phewww....my 2nd attempt was a success! Just by seeing the blood pumping up the syringe brought so much joy to me and gladly I announced to her, it's all done now, love:) And she replied with a soft voice 'Are you an angel?' with a slight beam on her face.. and My heart just melt...I wished I am, but i'm not..so all I could do, is try to be one to the people around me..definitely by God's grace i believe:)

and THE ABOVE, is a homemade seeded baguette with chicken tikka:) I found this lovely homemade bread shop nearby the hospital one day, so i rewarded myself with one, knowing me, a bread lover..whatever with BREAD, Angie LURVEs...lol! *p/s: they spelled my name wrongly on my nametag..ciS*

though am physically drained by the end of this attachment, I didnt regret completing my placement there at all. It's the BEST God has offered me. With consultants taking time off to teach and guide me personally, with senior doctors letting me do so much hands on, from cannulations to stitches, with great bunch of jolly nurses supervising me..i have no complaint! And all these can only come from my heavenly Daddy who has promised me GOOD:)

A&E...full of drama! The incident i saw that stayed vividly was a 6 weeks old baby, came in early morning with cardiac arrest! Whole body was white and stiff with no response at all. Despite the much effort by the team to resuscitate him, the baby didnt make it in the end. That scene traumatised me so much....life is full of uncertainties...The future, lies in God's hands.

wasSup Doc:

If you find yourself wearing a spirit of heaviness, try on a garment of praise C: