Back to school

It's especially strange to think that tomorrow is my last day in my current job and as of Wednesday I'm an FY2 doctor who is fully registered on the GMC website.

Since I'm changing hospital trusts again it has an odd feeling of starting a new school year.

I've bought my new pens, selected and ironed my clothes, scheduled my bed time, polished my shoes and filled the car up with fuel.

This extra preparation won't make a difference though as I will still be bricking it tomorrow evening for a new job. I'll also be back to my usual self next week and forgetting to make myself some lunch and prepare clothes the night before.

As much as I've really hated my current job, I really love the people I've worked with. I think we shared a mutual dislike of the particular speciality and made the best of it. Possibly one of the best bunch of people I've ever worked with and the patient care has been genuinely excellent.

I'm going to miss having the time to chat to patients, make sure they get a drink while we're there (yes we really do do this as we know the nurses are manically busy) and explaining things to family without massive time pressures. I won't have this luxury in my next job.

So all in all I've learnt a hell of a lot in the last year - probably more than I ever realised. I think I've kept most of my personality and humanity despite working in a couple of tough specialities and as much as I've had some really stressful times, I wouldn't change it for the world.

So here's to medicine and making hopefully the correct decision for me when I was choosing between being a doctor and a paramedic.

Don't get ill in August...