START OF FY II One year over and done with, another one to go. I was looking forward to this year more than the previous one – for many reasons. First of all, I had managed to get most of the rotations I wanted, which included my two favourite specialties: neurosurgery and emergency medicine. You see, whilst neurosurgery was always […]
END OF FY 1
END OF FY I Blink once, and a year passes by. That’s exactly how it felt on my very last day as a Foundation Year 1 Doctor. All those excruciatingly long, seemingly endless hours spent at hospital distilled into a single year – which, in hindsight, felt like just a few minutes. In just one year, I went from being […]
Shining
I.IV.IV SHINING My time in ortho was practically a blur. There was this unspoken camaraderie between us junior doctors, while the seniors mostly kept to themselves, tied up in outpatient clinics and theatre all day long. As always, I’d go in early to do my pre-rounds and check up on our patients. Then I’d brief Emily, and when our seniors […]
Stability
I.IV.III STABILITY In a study carried out in 2019 by Ridout et al, it was suggested that a doctor’s biological age may accelerate dramatically during their first year of practice – in some measures, by several years within a single calendar year. You’d think that’s an excellent excuse to celebrate a few birthdays at once, only you quickly realise you’re […]
Good Doctor
I.III.V GOOD DOCTOR It was during that rotation that I realised I wasn’t as good a doctor as I thought I was. And that was all thanks to Dr Sugar. In fact, what follows is something akin to a love letter to her. From now on, whenever I mention her, I want you to picture my eyes all teary with […]
Losing Touch
I.III.IV LOSING TOUCH I’m not the most spiritual person out there, but if there’s one thing I’ve always appreciated about myself, it’s that I’m almost always in touch with my inner self. When I feel like I’m losing touch with myself, there’s a ritual I usually do. I turn off all the lights, light some candles and incense, put on […]