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Friday, December 31, 2004 Finally the week comes to an end...
Wednesday was a depressing day. Did CPR on a patient, but even that with meds and a shock didn't help. She didn't make it (she came in collapsed). Over wednesday was a continuous line of RTAs. And so I witnessed firsthand what goes on, with the setting of plugs, bloods, intubation. We even had to tie down a very confuised and particularly strong Gurkha. Becoz of confusion, head trauma, etc he was struggling a lot. Same as today where we had a drug overdose lady who was so confused and agressive and screaming the whole resus down. Quite a challenge to put in plugs and take blood. Examined and observed a shoulder manipulation and reduction from an anterior dislocation. Lots os ?fits cases into resus, one MI (whom one MO and I agreed it was an MI, but the consultant said it was VT, and it turned out to be an MI, coz the meds didn't help to change the rhythm. Luckily the time period of thrombolysis therapy hasn't passed yet.) A couple of other minor cases. I've more or less orientated myself though. Found out little bits of information that hasn't stuck in my brain yet. Such as Verapamil can only be used for narrow-complex tachy coz since it is a CCB, it works on the SA node and therefore won't work in broad-complex tachy. Thanks to JTI for clarifying a term which I should be oh-so-familiar with in the first place (felt like an idiot asking him). Found out TTSh has a chest pain protocol which is too complicated to explain here, but know that there is one. Revised, (albeit slowly coz of my inept brain) meds for the different types of SVT and VT, got a hell of a lot of practice reading ECGs coz i seem to be based in resus most of the time. Found out that there are absolutely no, if any, kids which come to TTSh and other hospitals. All try to go to KK. This hospital also has an arrangement with AH, such that when there are no beds, patients are arranged to be transported there by ambulance, and if patients want to go to other hospitals, they can, but they have to go there on their own and re-register. Also found out the costs of the various wards and tests that patients have to pay. It never really crossed my mind apart from medical costs are expensive, simply becoz NHS is so very free for everything, and therefore lots of unnecessary investigations are ordered over there, whereas here, it is taken into account so very much. Lab results also come back so very efficiently and promptly, within half an hour or so. I'm impressed. There's a huge different in medical cultures too, which I shall go into later on, coz i'm abuot to go out now. Talk more later. Oh yeah, And I'e finally gone out to chiong. Add to that that I've survived on 2 hours for sleep for a shift and a half. I'm still intact. Heh. :+: Back to the Chionging season. Was in the afternoon shift, so before that, had lunch with Dee, who was recoverign from her op on her neck. Good time catching up. After shift, went home to quickly change, had a late dinner, then headed down to UE Square to chiong with some of my team-mates. Haven't been to Dbl-O before, so it was my first time there, and had to get me partner to meet me. Was alrady lost as it is. Nevertheless, it was a great night out with the girls. Huanyun, as always, is crazy, like me. So all 5 of us girls, went to got in free (Ladies night mah...) and also got free drinks (this is the only place which offers free drinks). And so, we drank. A lot. We started off with 1 shooter of ' Sex on the Beach', followed by 4-5 shots of tequila, another shooter, then topped with a vodka/lime and a bourbon/coke. Not many people on the dancefloor at 11-ish, so we club-hopped to mdm wong's instead, where we all got off to a roaring start! Great music, loads of people, and we just went in to dance. Before long, we went back to Dbl-O to get more drinks and stayed there to dance, and there, we met a few of the male canoeists from my team, whom we haven't seen in ages! It was really funny. Anyway, when the club switched on their lights to close at 3, we started to leave. But because i think one of the girls knew one of the staff at the doorway, our photos were taken (yeah, so I'm up on Dbl-O's website for Dec 29. See if you can spot me. *wink*). By the time I reached home and showered, etc, it was 4am. Woke at 8am to go in for a mask fitting session which apparently was arranged solely for me, where I was taught how to put on the M-95 mask, its uses and hazards, etc. It was over within 45 mins, and I trudged back home to bed for another 2 hour nap till noon. Managed to survive my next 8 hour shift in the afternoon, most probably due to all the adrenaline running from the standbys/resus cases rolling in, in addition to an earlier afternoon session taught by a senior nurses about log-rolling, uses of the various traction systems for fractures, plaster immobilization, uses of cervical neck collars and we tried it on, etc. It was quite good. :+: New Year's Eve I had a night shift, but our supervisor was nice enough to tell us NOT to come in. =) So I spent the day meeting people, RC at Hougang Mall for tea, then went to Yishun for tennis (but it rained so that was quite a bummer). That night, I was intending to spend a quiet night at home, in front of the tv, with my book and a cup of hot chocolate, but lo- and behold, Dee called and I was persuaded to go down to Esplanade to catch Corrinne May for a performance, but becoz it rained, she came over to my place instead, and we just chilled in my room, talking away. Great way to spend NYE, with a good friend. =) New Year Believe it or not, I spent the whole day ironing. Deciding I had enough, went to meet Cailing and Xinyi for hot chocolate at Max Brenner's at Esplanade. Heard a bit about it, so thought i'd go and try. Hmm.. it isn't that fantastic, but passable. and yeah, the guy there was so gay it was hilarious. =P Sunday, there was tennis with joel, jv and clarence in the morning, but as usual, it was cut short by the rain, so we ended up having breakfast at chomp chomp instead. met my jc class for a gathering, but not a very good turnout. hopefully the next one is better. And then I spent the rest of the afternoon clearing my wardrobe, so clothes from yesteryears (yeah, I have loads of them from when i was 16-17 still in my cupboard), and after that time, 1/4 of my wardrobe is gone. There's space for new ones. Yay me. =) |