Cannulae and counter-traction. Preparation part 2.

Only a month to go until I leave to head North 😬

As part of my preparation for the remote single handed GP sabbatical role it was recommended that having some recent A&E experience would be helpful. 

Gulp. 

The last time I worked in A&E was in the ‘90s as a very green SHO just 18 months out of medical school. Whilst I loved the medicine, if you’ve seen or read “This is Going to Hurt” by the talented Adam Kay you’ll have an idea of where I’m coming from. Seven consecutive 12 hour night shifts where you were the only doctor in the department serving an entire county, was the norm. You had a consultant at home on the end of a phone. At times I found it terrifying and I think it probably traumatised my younger self. So I can’t tell you how different my recent experience of shadowing a Consultant in the local A&E department has been.

This took some setting up, I naively assumed I could just pitch up having got the go ahead from the Medical Director of the department. No no no. I needed a voluntary contract and medical staffing approval, plus occupational health clearance so off I trotted on another precious afternoon off, for an appointment with a nurse to have a chat and a vaccine.

6 weeks later, it’s a Friday afternoon and I’m in the department feeling like a fish out of water. They couldn’t have been more welcoming.  Obviously I only got a brief view of what it’s like but on the surface it seemed like a very supportive and happy environment.

The junior doctors seemed closely supervised by the seniors and the nurses seemed to really enjoy their job. Many were young and brought lots of energy to the place and they were so accommodating. Within no time I was in “pit stop” - the triaging area for patients brought in by ambulance and I was “helping” (!) the HCAs by putting in cannulae, taking blood and doing all that manual handling stuff that doctors of my era were never taught. 

Suturing was high on my list of skills to update and found that it was a bit like riding a bike,  I just needed some confidence to have a go and realised I really enjoy this practical side of medicine. Also having an idea of what and what not to suture was as useful as having a basic knowledge of how to do it.

You realise how far you’ve come when the SHO reminding / teaching you about relocating a dislocated shoulder and instructing you how to apply counter-traction is probably the same age as your own daughter. 

Anyway, I enjoyed it so much I’ve signed up for some paid locum shifts at the urgent treatment centre which is soon to become a GP role in the ambulatory care area of “Majors” in A&E. 

Unintended consequences are a wonderful thing.