its been awhile!

and by golly it has!

im right now 5 days away from graduating from my rotation at taipei vgh's ER
and i must say that ive learnt alot on the job. and ER being ER, ive had the
opportunity to carry out most of the textbook procedures that we've been studying
and osce-ing about for the past 5 years. and repeatedly, too (the doing AND the
studying...) and i must say... that no amount of osces can prepare you for the actual
act of getting an ABG sample from an obese lady with weak pulse, inserting a foley for
a man with consderable BPH, and inserting a NG tube for a patient who just WONT swallow.

i found myself learning a little more every day. the stress of the work environment helps too. everything has too be done double speed, now! chopchop. and at the end of
the day you will be very grateful for all the helpful suggestions, tips and even impatient retorts from all the nurses and doctors alike. there are always things to learn from everyone and anyone - the patient, his family members, the hired help, colleagues (obviously), the bed pushers, and even the ambulance driver. they tell you things from different perspectives and it helps to orientate you just that little bit more in the bewildering world of the labyrinth that is the hospital.

there are good days and bad days. good days are when i successfully obtain a blood sample, having the patient regain her pulse while doing cpr, having patients grateful for your assistance; managing to independently diagnose and administer tests and tmts for the patient; while bad days are when i just CANNOT CANNOT get that bloody ekg to work, miss the artery, stand helpless besides a patient having a seizure attack.
the good days make you feel all warm and yippy inside, while on the bad days i repeteadly wonder if this is really the right road for me to take. i still cannot decide if this is a job to my liking... i suppose if i knew what to do at every step, i would like my job alot... but as of right now i still have so much more to learn!

hohum.

i reckon i would be massively bored at the wards after coming off this rotation... bc the most exciting time would be over... 3 more days of night shift and one final diagnosis challenge before im off to neurology!