14 hour shift in medicine FML (1 Viewer)

[Kiraken]

Yeh it's not terrible but I have a progressive mindset and it really annoys me that little things could be done to improve efficiency but they don't happen.
Neurosurgery good luck with that I've heard it's insanely hard to get in. I think Blacktown is heading in the direction where all major specialities will be incorporated at some point in time. Jobs here for you in the future. I haven't heard anything about Rouse Hill but that is good news!

One of my friends originally wanted to do it and decided to do a PHD at med school as it will help him get in but he's having second thoughts on medicine.

oh no i don't wanna do neurosurgery, i was just using that as an example of a specialty that thus far is not included in Blacktown Hospital, but yes you're quite right in raising the possibility that Blacktown Hospital might have it in the future (though i doubt any time soon).

Blacktown Hospital is *decently* efficient, but it doesn't have as many doctors as Westmead etc. so naturally is gonna be a tad less efficient but honestly i doubt it makes too much of a difference, having been on rotations there for a couple of years i can say i wouldn't mind being a JMO in that environment

 

[Medman]

I think they were saying probably just after 2020 Blacktown will have around 900 beds which is Westmead's size at the moment. They will be building another building after the first one is completed.

It is decently efficient but there always seems to be a huge gap between medical admin and doctors at the hospital. For the purpose of cannulas you need to be "aseptic" but if you do that for every patient you will not get your jobs done on time in the wards so they make unrealistic regulations because they actually have no idea about the situation. They look at numbers and make a decision on that which is absolutely ridiculous. That is one of the reasons why I hate the system there's no cohesion and everyone seems to be fighting everyone else "diplomatically". It's like CEOs creating new policy without understanding what their employees are doing.

Also no one really cares about saving money. It's always HOW DO WE GET MORE MONEY. If you have a system set up like that it's destined to spiral into debt. Westmead has the same problems, I was there for all my years as a medical student.

 

[Havox]

70 hours is not glamorous considering they only pay us for 43 hours of rostered work so if you don't claim unrostered overtime you are being paid about ~$22 per hour. Does your hospital pay you a meal allowance if you work past 7pm? We had an issue with the hospital not honouring that part of our award which could come to an extra $27 per day worked past 7pm which adds up. Legally it should be paid and a few hospitals I know pay the meal allowance.

Tell me about the built up of work load. I was running on adrenaline for the whole 14 hours. I don't think I would volunteer for weekend shifts at this stage given the lack of experience but I hope in time it will get better. I also hate the fact that trying to finding a vein on a difficult patient and failing to cannulate really sets you back so much!

So far I've not been asking for payment of unrostered OT simply because some of the time I was new and therefore just slow. Not workload related. Nowadays we've settled and we've been told (at least the interns in our department) by our ATs to start asking for OT since it's the only way the hospital recognises that we need more staff and teams.

Blacktown Hospital is *decently* efficient, but it doesn't have as many doctors as Westmead etc. so naturally is gonna be a tad less efficient but honestly i doubt it makes too much of a difference, having been on rotations there for a couple of years i can say i wouldn't mind being a JMO in that environment

I really didn't like the electronic charts/notes at Blacktown.

 

[Bearman]

Is Blacktown paperless in any of the wards yet? I remember they trialed paperless in surg 2 back in 2013 but never heard what happened following that.

 

[Dupain]

Just a lot of you go to not so well respected, no named Universities like JC, UON and UWS. In Law, many aspire to work overseas in the big IBs and the top tier firms. What's next after being an intern? What if you don't get a registra position at say St Vincents, RPA or POW? as you are competing against the might of the cohorts from the top tier universities (UNSW/USYD/University of Melbourne) .......

What chance do you have as a UWS, JC or UON student? or are you destined for the west e.g., Liverpool, Bankstown, Westmead or worst Newcastle/Dubbo ...... or slave away resorting to "5 minute" medicine in General Practice for some Medical Centre owner to make a living treating coughs and colds all day? .....IMO 1%.

 

[Kiraken]

Is Blacktown paperless in any of the wards yet? I remember they trialed paperless in surg 2 back in 2013 but never heard what happened following that.

Yep pretty much everything has been switched to paperlite

It took a bit of getting used to to say the least lol

 

[Havox]

Just a lot of you go to not so well respected, no named Universities like JC, UON and UWS. In Law, many aspire to work overseas in the big IBs and the top tier firms. What's next after being an intern? What if you don't get a registra position at say St Vincents, RPA or POW? as you are competing against the might of the cohorts from the top tier universities (UNSW/USYD/University of Melbourne) .......

What chance do you have as a UWS, JC or UON student? or are you destined for the west e.g., Liverpool, Bankstown, Westmead or worst Newcastle/Dubbo ...... or slave away resorting to "5 minute" medicine in General Practice for some Medical Centre owner to make a living treating coughs and colds all day? .....IMO 1%.

Not sure if trolling but I'll answer seriously...

One does not leap from intern to Registrar. You become a resident at the hospital you intern at before applying for another resident year at a hospital. What institution you graduate at has no bearing on consideration for college positions.

 

[Bearman]

Just a lot of you go to not so well respected, no named Universities like JC, UON and UWS. In Law, many aspire to work overseas in the big IBs and the top tier firms. What's next after being an intern? What if you don't get a registra position at say St Vincents, RPA or POW? as you are competing against the might of the cohorts from the top tier universities (UNSW/USYD/University of Melbourne) .......

What chance do you have as a UWS, JC or UON student? or are you destined for the west e.g., Liverpool, Bankstown, Westmead or worst Newcastle/Dubbo ...... or slave away resorting to "5 minute" medicine in General Practice for some Medical Centre owner to make a living treating coughs and colds all day? .....IMO 1%.

Hehe wut? Probably the one of the highest complete bullshit to words ratios I've seen - not even sure where to start but I'll explain this shit for the sake of future med students and at the risk of feeding a troll.

1. Can't compare law to med in terms of career advancement
2. "Might of the cohorts from the top tier universities" - not sure what makes you think these universities are mighty... USyd have recently compressed their PBL classes to 65 people with 2 tutors (versus the standard 10:1 teaching ratio). Every uni has issues and I can assure you that I'm a whole lot better than lots of UNSW/USyd/UMelb med students and there are plenty that are better than me
3. It's not really standard for employers to look at your degree once you've got experience
4. Internship positions are allocated by random ballot (i.e. a UWS medical student has the same chance of ending up in RPA/Vinnies/etc as any other medical student in Sydney). Once you've got your network allocation, it's a lot easier to get a SRMO/reg job within it than outside it.
5. Newcastle hospital is oversubscribed
6. The average GP makes more than the average lawyer.
7. 30-40 minute consults (Level C) potentially make more money per hour than short (Level A/B) consults

 

[Dupain]

Hehe wut? Probably the one of the highest complete bullshit to words ratios I've seen - not even sure where to start but I'll explain this shit for the sake of future med students and at the risk of feeding a troll.

1. Can't compare law to med in terms of career advancement
2. "Might of the cohorts from the top tier universities" - not sure what makes you think these universities are mighty... USyd have recently compressed their PBL classes to 65 people with 2 tutors (versus the standard 10:1 teaching ratio). Every uni has issues and I can assure you that I'm a whole lot better than lots of UNSW/USyd/UMelb med students and there are plenty that are better than me
3. It's not really standard for employers to look at your degree once you've got experience
4. Internship positions are allocated by random ballot (i.e. a UWS medical student has the same chance of ending up in RPA/Vinnies/etc as any other medical student in Sydney). Once you've got your network allocation, it's a lot easier to get a SRMO/reg job within it than outside it.
5. Newcastle hospital is oversubscribed
6. The average GP makes more than the average lawyer.
7. 30-40 minute consults (Level C) potentially make more money per hour than short (Level A/B) consults

UWS was teaching woodwork before they decided to create a Medical School. What are the percentages of students that graduate from JC, UON, UWS that are working as Consultants at a major Sydney city hospital? They are all from USYD/UNSW from what I see from their qualifications.

Medicare is really welfare for GPs that is why they are terrified of any changes for the good of society. 99% of students from UWS will be GPs and a small minority Specialists.

Can you work overseas easily .. no, looks like you'll have to have to sit exams etc.

 

[Bearman]

UWS was teaching woodwork before they decided to create a Medical School. What are the percentages of students that graduate from JC, UON, UWS that are working as Consultants at a major Sydney city hospital? They are all from USYD/UNSW from what I see from their qualifications.

UWS medical school has a completely distinct building and teaching staff from the rest of the university. I don't really know or care to verify whether UWS teaches or taught woodwork, but I don't believe it's relevant.

There are no consultants from UWS because the medical school is <10 years old. However, the proportion of grads on training programs for non-GP specialties is roughly the same across all medical schools.

Medicare is really welfare for GPs that is why they are terrified of any changes for the good of society. 99% of students from UWS will be GPs and a small minority Specialists.

This statement has so much ignorance in so few words that it's difficult for me to even formulate a response.
1. In my opinion, it's not really fair to assert that general practitioners are living on the equivalent of welfare, particularly when their median income places them in the top 1% of income earners in Australia.
2. I assume that by "changes for the good of society" you may be referring to the GP copayment in its various forms. I don't want to argue this as it essentially comes down to political leanings but I think the vast majority of doctors (including non-GPs) would argue that these are not "for the good of society". If you were alluding to something else, please feel free to correct me.
3. 99% GPs is simply incorrect, I don't know what more to say other than you're making these numbers up. I would estimate ~50-60% will be GPs (i.e. the same as any other medical school)
4. You seem to have something against primary care. It's one of the few areas of medicine that yields better population-wide outcomes with increasing numbers. Increasing the number of specialists does not necessarily have the same effect. I understand that it's not for you but I don't understand what problem you have with the specialty itself. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2690145/

Can you work overseas easily .. no, looks like you'll have to have to sit exams etc.

The situation is the same for all Australian med school grads.

Your posts are alarmingly narcissistic. If you don't want to come across as such, it would be nice if you mentioned your sources since my impression is that you're fresh out of high school and a starry-eyed pre-law student hoping to make it big in a top tier law firm or IB (which, unfortunately, is at least as oversubscribed as anything in medicine).

 

[Dupain]

UWS medical school has a completely distinct building and teaching staff from the rest of the university. I don't really know or care to verify whether UWS teaches or taught woodwork, but I don't believe it's relevant.

There are no consultants from UWS because the medical school is <10 years old. However, the proportion of grads on training programs for non-GP specialties is roughly the same across all medical schools.



This statement has so much ignorance in so few words that it's difficult for me to even formulate a response.
1. In my opinion, it's not really fair to assert that general practitioners are living on the equivalent of welfare, particularly when their median income places them in the top 1% of income earners in Australia.
2. I assume that by "changes for the good of society" you may be referring to the GP copayment in its various forms. I don't want to argue this as it essentially comes down to political leanings but I think the vast majority of doctors (including non-GPs) would argue that these are not "for the good of society". If you were alluding to something else, please feel free to correct me.
3. 99% GPs is simply incorrect, I don't know what more to say other than you're making these numbers up. I would estimate ~50-60% will be GPs (i.e. the same as any other medical school)
4. You seem to have something against primary care. It's one of the few areas of medicine that yields better population-wide outcomes with increasing numbers. Increasing the number of specialists does not necessarily have the same effect. I understand that it's not for you but I don't understand what problem you have with the specialty itself. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2690145/


The situation is the same for all Australian med school grads.

Your posts are alarmingly narcissistic. If you don't want to come across as such, it would be nice if you mentioned your sources since my impression is that you're fresh out of high school and a starry-eyed pre-law student hoping to make it big in a top tier law firm or IB (which, unfortunately, is at least as oversubscribed as anything in medicine).

Yogi, UWS Medical School's ranking is like over 600th in the world. The top Medical School in Australia is the University of Melbourne, 13th. 13th vs 600th and you are telling me that all graduates are equal quality? Please explain .....

When I say GPs use Medicare as welfare for their income, it is because they practice bad medicine - "5 min" medicine to boost/support their income - price indicators are a must according to Health Economists and this would destroy their/your income. Maybe this is why I did not consider medicine, it is so left winged in Australia. After a few weeks work experience, I did not find it mentally challenging, all they do is organise a blood test/ECG/Scans and make a decision from those. I've got an internship with an IB this year, maybe it'll also be just as not stimulating but at least I'll get to wear nice clothes.

GL with your choice anyway, just don't walk around Liverpool Westfield with a stethoscope around your shoulder, telling everybody you are short a break from a 14hr shift - that's what Medman's THREAD is about.

 

[Havox]

GL with your choice anyway, just don't walk down the street with a stethoscope around Liverpool Westfield, like a few tossers out there.

Photo or it didn't happen, very hard to believe. Outside the hospital grounds in surrounds maybe but that's a bit much. In any case, troll or ignorant, probably time to quit feeding and pull the plug on this one.

 

[Kiraken]

Don't feed the troll guys, he is likely wallowing in despair at how he couldn't make it into med or IB and is pretending to know about both for self validation and to troll ppl he is likely envious of lol

 

[isildurrrr1]

Can you work overseas easily .. no, looks like you'll have to have to sit exams etc.

What are you on about. It doesn't matter where people grad, as long as they have an australian practising cert, it applies to all unis. just because you went to UNSW or U syd doesn't mean you'll get an exemption from medical exam's overseas.

 

[bangladesh]

Hehe wut? Probably the one of the highest complete bullshit to words ratios I've seen - not even sure where to start but I'll explain this shit for the sake of future med students and at the risk of feeding a troll.

1. Can't compare law to med in terms of career advancement
2. "Might of the cohorts from the top tier universities" - not sure what makes you think these universities are mighty... USyd have recently compressed their PBL classes to 65 people with 2 tutors (versus the standard 10:1 teaching ratio). Every uni has issues and I can assure you that I'm a whole lot better than lots of UNSW/USyd/UMelb med students and there are plenty that are better than me
3. It's not really standard for employers to look at your degree once you've got experience
4. Internship positions are allocated by random ballot (i.e. a UWS medical student has the same chance of ending up in RPA/Vinnies/etc as any other medical student in Sydney). Once you've got your network allocation, it's a lot easier to get a SRMO/reg job within it than outside it.
5. Newcastle hospital is oversubscribed
6. The average GP makes more than the average lawyer.
7. 30-40 minute consults (Level C) potentially make more money per hour than short (Level A/B) consults

hehe we get 1:8 at JMP

 

[Ethicks]

Beyond me why more people don't go rural, perhaps I'm being biased because I'm from a rural area and have seen all too frequently how those hard working JMO's sit on their backside and repeat order blood tests on dying patients for their own benefits. No, but seriously who wouldn't want to intern a brand new hospital with a country outlook.

Anyway I'm glad this thread was posted and has shed some light on the reality of medicine. What sort of training did you receive for venepuncture/BC/ABG/VBG collection? From the student doctors I've taught venepuncture to they were given one session and then thrown in a hospital where it is assumed they know how to collect and cannulate which is quite horrible for them and the patients. These skills require months/years to master and it sounds like better education needs to be applied to perform these techniques. In a rural hospital I worked at one of the older more experienced phlebotomists volunteered her own time and gave sessions on phlebotomy.

Collecting samples right the first time will prevent those dreaded phone calls of "The ABG you just sent is clotted", I can imagine having to return to a patient and explain to them you need to do another ABG. The same thing applies for FBC if not collected properly they will clot.

On an end note if in doubt ASK, there is no point collecting a Vitamin E and exposing it to light. A lot of tests have requirements and those people in the lab would rather you ask than do the wrong thing.

#rantover

 

[royalgoyal]

Jesus hope that 14 hrs thing doesn't come to me

 

[Ethicks]

Jesus hope that 14 hrs thing doesn't come to me

If you're an intern it's bound to happen unless you're smart and get into Pathology but you probably still need to go through all those horrible shifts on weekends and public holidays uhh (Before being able to apply for a Pathology intern that is) trollface.jpg

 

[royalgoyal]

If you're an intern it's bound to happen unless you're smart and get into Pathology but you probably still need to go through all those horrible shifts on weekends and public holidays uhh (Before being able to apply for a Pathology intern that is) trollface.jpg

Ahahahha damn right

 

[iStudent]

Jesus hope that 14 hrs thing doesn't come to me

It's not that bad. It's better than studying in med school! (On some days, I get lectures from 9am to 9pm - then there's the self study that occurs from 9pm till when I sleep which is like 11pm so there's an intense set of 14 hours) and I'd imagine studying to be much more boring compared to working as an intern.

Just putting things into perspective.