Chemical restraints

So I want to pose you all a question. 

A colleague from the hospital recently messaged me on facebook to ask me my opinions on chemical restraint of patients in a medical environment? My answer was a bit mixed and muddled.

So I turn the same question to you:

Do you think sedative drugs should ever be given to patients as a form of 'calming' measure outside of mental health hospitals?

Should patients be written up for lorazepam or haloperidol simply because they wander around and disturb other patients?

Should they have medicines to help them stay in bed if they are confused?

What do you think??

Third Year Strife

Well, this time next year I will be absolutely bricking it. Pending of course that I've found enough money to actually go on elective.

My elective has been booked and now I just need to book many many many hospital shifts and bar shifts to get as much money as is humanly possible before next year.

I've 'guestimated' that I'm going to need in the region of £4000 to cover flights, food, rent while I'm away, the elective itself and basic living allowances for 8 weeks work.

Essentially I'm bricking it. The last time I was on an aeroplane I was 11 years old and we flew from Leeds to Jersey. The 9 hour flight with 2 connection changes barely compares.

I've written to drug companies, medical companies and charities trying to plead my case. Otherwise I just have to work very very hard.

Basically, I'm very scared. And very excited.

So i need some advice...

... and quite predictably some money, but that's another matter.

I'm trying to organise my elective. For those non-medics in the house, an elective is a period of study for medical students where you are strongly encouraged to go abroad for 8 weeks and experience healthcare in another country.

Now here comes the sticky part; I have never travelled alone, or in fact really ever. And therefore I'm nervous and scared. 

I know where I want to go, but I have absolutely no idea how to go about it and what I need to do. I also need to summon some money from somewhere to get a passport. 

So this is where you come in, if you feel helpful. Somehow I need to find in the region of £4000 before next summer to afford to go away, but I also need advice.

Has any medical student out there ever used an organised elective company such as Work the World, Medics Away or Adventure Alternative? Basically, I'm a tad nervous giving all my hard earned bottom wiping money to a random company based on no review, and was wondering if anyone knows of anyone who has used them in the past.

Please send kind thoughts my way, as my nerves are vanishing rapidly.

PS: if you are a company and would like to sponsor my elective, either personally or through advertising on the blog, please drop me an email on bloodystudents@hotmail.co.uk and I'm thanking you all in advance...

Unwritten rules

For some reason that I don't understand, university libraries seem to be the coldest places on the planet.

It's really not good when you're trying to get pharmacological principles through your thick skull and all you can think of is how cold your fingers are.

I also feel a grade A prat as I brought my sunglasses in with me today for cycling. They look pretty redundant now...

Ethnicity

I'm going to explain a little about my family background. One half of my family is Celtic, and the other half Romany. My mother has thick, rich dark wavy hair, and olive tanned skin which goes a beautiful colour in the summer.

My father has curly hair and fair freckled skin.

Of course, I would be a hybrid of this. I got the thick dark hair which does exactly what it wants, but I also got the fair skin with freckled shoulders.

Consequently when I was working last week I was rather amused when a male Filipino nurse became curious as to whether I coloured my hair. (I do colour it from time to time, but only to cover impending white hairs - I colour it back to my natural colour and hence I never have roots).

When I explained that my hair was naturally this colour, he asked me the most impossible question I have ever heard; Was I mixed race?*

The other two staff started laughing, and I had to join in with them. My skin is so pale it's practically grey in winter, and he was so confused as to why my hair was the same colour as his.

This amused me all night, or at least until a patient on the ward asked me if my hair was naturally black...


*his expression, not mine.

The breakfast of champions

The thing I love most about work is the home part. 

I get to cycle home, which is really refreshing no matter what the weather is, followed by a bowl of cereal, a game of guitar hero this morning and a beautiful glass of red wine.

It really is the breakfast of champions.

Night shift syndrome

It's the easter holidays now, which can mean only one thing. With no OSCE looming after the vacation, and only one assignment and one piece of PBL to do, both of which are mostly done, it's time to work my little arse off at the hospital doing night shift after night shift.

I've also recommenced days at the outdoor pursuits centre, which raised some eyebrows as I think they thought I'd quit. Being unwell for nearly 6 months combined with very cold weather does not make for an amazingly good idea. 

Tonight is my first proper night shift on the ENT ward, and I'm not that fazed by it. I quite like the ward and the majority of the patients are independent and can get themselves out to the bathroom etc*

That being said, I'm quite looking forward to it. Tomorrow night may be completely different. I'm 'specialling' a patient who has falls from bed a lot, and I could spend a lot of my night fighting them. 

*expect a post later saying that all hell has let loose....

Slacker

I can't believe that March has been and gone, and this is only my third blogpost....

It's been a remarkably busy month with lots of assessment and stress. There's also been placement somewhere down the line and another bout of dubious health.

All in all, not an amazingly blogworthy month.

Siamese banana

Siamese banana
Originally uploaded by merysjones

Nice freaky food I got from Sainsbury's.

Still, even deformed bananas need our love, and I did so by eating them quickly. I was rather peckish.

the all important question

no, not 'what is the meaning of life?'

but.. do I cut my own fringe?

My hair is getting quite a bit longer, and was previously quite short and has a fringe. I've been cursed with tons and tons of hair, which most people are jealous of, but its a bitch to manage. It's also neither curly nor straight.

My dilemma is this; I can't afford a haircut and I look like an old English sheepdog.

I've cut my fringe in the past with mixed results. It usually comes out OK, but I have this horrible feeling that something horrifically bad is gonna happen this time. I'm not sure why....