It’s great to be a student in the UK

11 February 2009

It’s great to be a student in the UK

Even though yesterday was my first day on the wards, today it felt more official. I sort of felt as if I knew what was going on. The schedule was much the same as before with rounding and such. We got another OB/GYN patient in the ICU so that was interesting for me, they think that this one has severe PID (pelvic inflammatory disease, ie. A really bad infection of gonorrhea or chlamydia). After walking rounds ended around 9am, I went off on my merry way to take care of some errands. I finally got my ID badge made so now I am legit!! While waiting for the badges, I met another visiting American med student named, Anne. She was visiting from Michigan and doing Infectious Disease. She brought her husband along and they rented a flat in Brixton which is a Caribbean neighborhood of south London which has a reputation for being the only bad neighborhood. She likes it though!

After getting my ID, I walked back to Occupational Health to get my TB skin test read. I already knew it was negative, of course, but I had to show them. I saw the same nurse again, when she saw my arm she said, “Nothing happened!” I said, “Yes, that’s good!” She said, “Well that means you are not immune though!” I explained well no of course not, because it is not standard practice to vaccinate Americans for TB with the BCG vaccine. She told me that I should probably get another skin test when I return home since there is such a high rate of TB there. It made me a little bit annoyed at my country for not vaccinating me against this terrible disease. When I got home, I did a quick internet medical journal search and it seems that the TB vaccine has only a 50% efficacy rate. I guess when you combine that with our very, very low TB rate in the US, it isn’t really worth vaccinating everyone. But why not the doctors…

Right next to the OH building, I saw there was a Student Sports Centre so I went into inquire about my options. For just £7.50 I bought a 1 month membership!!! I mean where else can you get a membership anywhere for just $10 a month?? The place is decent, with a weight room, cardio room, squash courts, etc. Not bad at all!
Finally I went and got registered to use the library and the computers so I have truly become part of the institution!

Before the sitting ward rounds at 10:30, I stopped in to meet the consultant to whom I was assigned, Dr. Grounds. He was very friendly and chipper. He was dressed up in scrubs as he was on the way to “theatre” (aka. OR). It turn out that Anesthesiologists run ICUs in England so many of them split their time between the wards and the OR/theatres. He gave me the run down on the elective but went on to tell me that “above all else, you are in London! We would be very disappointed if you did not enjoy your time while you were here so make sure you do some sightseeing. If the weather is shitty, come spend the day with us, otherwise, have fun! We don’t take things too seriously here!” What a nice mentality!

Back at the rounds, I very much enjoyed my tea with HobKnob digestive biscuits and Cadbury chocolates. The Brits sure do like their sweets. After the sitting rounds were over, the consultant (attending) told us to break for lunch. I ate with the Italian doctor again. This time we tried out the canteen (aka. cafeteria) which was not bad at all. There was a good selection of hot food items and you could find potatoes prepared virtually anyway you wanted them: mashed, french fried, baked, or the one I chose was prepared in a butter sauce! They definitely like to serve desserts with hot custard on the side here as well, I remembered that from study abroad. I think it is delicious…the best is their rhubarb crumble with warm custard. I thought it was great that there was a “staff price” listed on the foods, and also a “student price” which was even cheaper. I think the US could stand to be a lot more kind to students. At home, there is very little benefit to being a student as opposed to in Europe. In the states, we pay up to $60,000 a year for university, and in Europe they pay maybe $3000! And on top of that, they get discounts on public transportation (at least 30%), shows, tickets, food, the list goes on…I know that our system of schooling and high costs will not change, but I think our government could at least offer more discounts on say food or public transportation!

In the afternoon, we received a new patient transferred in from a smaller hospital in Surrey. He was a 37 year old chap who was in a car accident around 1am. He had gone out with some friends to celebrate some positive advances at work. Our patient was in the backseat of the car without his seatbelt on when they struck a tree. He flew out the windscreen (aka. windshield) and now had a slew of problems. He had brain injuries (bilateral subarachnoid hemorrhages), fractures of his jaw (mandible), neck (T1 & hyoid bone), sternum, and hip (acetabulum), huge open wound on his forearm, and last but certainly not least, a tear (dissection) of his aorta and was developing severe regurgitation of blood flow in the heart. We got him sorted in his new room for awhile. Later on, I went with the registrar (senior resident) to talk to the family. He has a 2 year old child at home and his wife is 24 weeks pregnant with the next one, as if the story could get any worse…Bottom line, everyone, wear your seatbelts any time you are in the car! And no, you are not safe in the backseat. I helped the Greek orthopedic surgery resident clean out the huge laceration on his arm and hung around while dozens of people swarmed around him. Prognosis is definitely not great for him…very sad.

After work, I stopped at Boots on the way home. Anyone that has been to England knows this store, but for anyone else, it is a great drugstore, like a CVS but so much better! They have a lot of their own products that are reasonably priced and very nice! I ended up killing a lot of time there smelling lotions and picking out some things I needed. When I emerged, it was pouring rain and I was without an umbrella. Charlotte, my roommate, is gone for the rest of the week now as she has things to take care of due to her father’s death.