surgical training journey Archives

Added on May 24, 2022 Foundation Year 2 , Emergency Medicine

Sacrifice

II.IV.IV SACRIFICE My time in emergency medicine was… different. It was a period of growth and existential crises, one that forced me to reevaluate parts of my life that had previously grounded me. It wasn’t so much the medicine itself as it was everything that came with the job. Despite having come a long way in curbing my superiority complex […]

Added on January 16, 2022 Foundation Year 2 , Neurosurgery

Neurosurgery – Journal Entries

II.II.IX JOURNAL ENTRIES Journal entries from my rotation in neurosurgery: I’ve been woken up at 3AM to see someone with a foreign body in their ear. This guy had managed to get a cotton bud stuck in there. At 3AM. Who the hell decides to clean their ears at 3AM? I’ve been practising my suturing technique since I was a […]

Added on August 25, 2020 Foundation Year 1 , Emergency Surgery

Unravelling

I.I.VI UNRAVELLING By the end of those three months, I genuinely felt like I was finally a full-fledged doctor. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I still realised I knew nothing and that I was still an idiot on the grand scheme of things. Be that as it may, over those three months not only had I survived such a […]

Added on August 18, 2020 Foundation Year 1 , Emergency Surgery

Transition

I.I.V TRANSITION As much as the work varied, days started to blend in. What at the very beginning seemed so out of reach had become somewhat routine as time went by. In fact, by the time I got used to this routine, my rotation in emergency surgery was about to be over. And by the end? Let’s just say that […]

Added on August 4, 2020 Foundation Year 1 , Emergency Surgery

Trial By Fire

I.I.III TRIAL BY FIRE I was one of the lucky few to have my first on-call shift at the end of the week. This way, I had a glimpse of what I could expect from fellow colleagues who recounted their tales. Judging from what I had heard, I should’ve been scared crapless before my first one. Some had to deal […]