Tuesday, December 13, 2011

A Weekend in Neuro

I survived the weekend.

Yes. It was my first 48 hour weekend on-call in neurology. I was rather worried about it. My fellow reg offered to swap the on-call with me, but I didn't want to. I would need to do the on-calls whether this weekend or later. Therefore, I might get it over and done with, and build up the confidence plus experience as I go along.

I did mini ward rounds in the ward on both Saturday and Sunday. I was finished by about 11 am. Then, I proceeded to review 2 patients in the high dependency unit. Both were in respiratory failure secondary to dermatomyositis and myasthenia gravis respectively.

So far so good, I thought to myself. No referrals yet. I decided to hang around in the hospital until about 3pm, just in case anything happens. But it was all under control. This would never be the case had I be doing general medical weekend on -calls!

The only phone call I received was early this morning at about 10 mins after midnight. Apparently, the medical registrar from this nearby hospital has been trying to contact me all evening. The switchboard dept in my hospital has got my name wrong, and they claimed that I was not on their on-call list this weekend; despite me ringing them on Saturday morning to confirm that I am on-call and even gave them my mobile number.

Anywho, the med reg was asking for advice on a patient whom they suspect might have Gullain Barre Sydrome (GBS). He was just wondering whether he needed to transfer the patient overnight to us. The patient was stable, and was not in any respiratory compromise. So I suggested that the patient remained in their hospital overnight, and be transferred in the morning. I ran that past the consultant and he agreed too.

The weekend was, otherwise, uneventful. I am glad that it was ok, but I was also hoping for a few more phone calls just so I get more experience etc. I look forward to more on-calls this week, and the months to come!


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