Orthopaedic Surgery: My First Experience

When the work experience coordinator said that I would be "in theatres" at a number of points during my week's work experience at the R.N.O.H, I was very excited indeed, but also nervous, as I had never watched surgery take place before.

Theatre implies a show, and what a show there was. The first drama was the very sight of the patient. When I walked in, all scrubbed up, the patient was asleep with general anesthetic and covered up with sterile blue sheets. He was entirely covered from view except for his left leg, which was being coated in yellow plastic, (I later learned from a nurse that this was to minimise skin shedding of the patient, that may get into the wound). Then came the first incision. It felt like my legs had gone from underneath me. The sheer shock of a person being cut up in front of me, albeit anesthetised, is a momentous one. Furthermore, as you look at the patient, in this case a small boy, you can't help but plead in your head that they'll leave him intact.

However, after the initial shock of the mechanics of the procedure, I soon calmed down. Even now, my first observations seem incredibly naive, in hindsight that is, but I've included them here for perspective. I was comforted by the conversations I had with the lovely anesthetists during the rest of the surgery. Having someone there to explain what is happening is immensely reassuring, and takes the nightmarish qualities out of the experience.

Likewise, seeing the measured cooperation and calmness of the team around me filled me with an equivalent composure, and I began to appreciate the complex surgery that was being undertaken in front of my eyes. Indeed the rest of the week followed and I saw a dozen surgeries, I am hugely grateful for the experience and became so accustomed to the blood and gore of that week that I am slightly concerned for my mental wellbeing as I doubt it is normal for a human being to be unperturbed by an entirely open leg, arm or hip of their fellow man. 

Regardless, I enjoyed the fascinating experience, and my first exposure to surgery.

Image source: http://ossmig.orthop.washington.edu/Portals/1/OR1.jpg

Open Doors Project

For the first week of the big summer holiday, while many of our age group were off frolicking on various exotic beaches, myself and a handful of other lower sixth students had voluntarily chosen to come into school at normal time. The reason was a community inclusive activity week for primary school children, called the Open Doors Project being held at my school. The sixth form volunteers were dubbed "student leaders" and for five days we helped out with all the activities that took place for the benefit of the children.

The children did a day each of arts-, music-, movement- and drama- related activities, to come together in a musical theatrical performance at the end of the week in front of the children's parents.
I was in the art group, which meant that each day a group of us sixth formers were left in charge of a dozen small children, who were let loose on art supplies and copious amounts of glitter. Essentially it was a week of arts and crafts with eight year olds, which proved to be great fun!

In the morning we briefed the children, in language and format that was easily accessible to them, which was the first challenge that we encountered; of course I did not start by using using complex language or a convoluted method, but it was difficult to gauge the level of maturity among the children, and we were very self conscious in case we patronised them, which would lose their respect and interest. In the end I just did what seemed natural, and sure enough the children seems to respond brilliantly. This was the first challenge, that of communicating in an effective way that was appropriate to their age group, but there were many more to come.

When the children got more used to each other, and they began to make friends from different schools, there was also the problem of keeping the children well behaved and working safely. It would have been okay to let them "run free" as it were, if not for the craft knives, hot glue guns and hot wax that was being used. This challenged me to think on my feet and assign jobs to children who for one reason or another, were acting up slightly. I quickly realised that everything runs better if each and every child is happy and busy, because if boredom sets in then they get restless.

I found it extremely rewarding working with the children, even if it was a little tiring, and at the end of each day I felt fulfilled in that I had helped a handful of children have a fun day.

Aside from the arts and crafts, the most rewarding part of the week was seeing (and playing a role in) their final performance. It was a fantastic show, and all the children were so happy before during and after, not to mention how proud the children's parents were of them. It was very rewarding to see the week's work come together so beautifully.

From the experience I learned how to teach and guide young children, and help them through challenges that they thought they could not do. Working in conjunction with both teachers and other student leaders has reinforced my sense of teamwork and gave me the opportunity to embrace a leadership role too.

All in all, it was well worth the week of summer, and I hope the children enjoyed their week!

St John Ambulance

Today I went on a St John Ambulance first aid course for all ages, so most of us had never been on a first aid course before. We started off with our instructor asking us about our expectation for the course and what we wanted to learn, which included procedures such as CPR (learn more here), dressing cuts and wounds and assessing emergency conditions. We then went through the basic theory and mindset behind acting in a an emergency, and then on to the first aid, which included practicals on each other and with specialist equipment.

I won't go into the specifics of the course, partly because I think that anyone who can definitely should go on a first aid course, and I can strongly recommend St John Ambulance (great staff, excellent facilities and comprehensive course) and secondly because it is much better to see it done and practice (on scarily lifelike dummies) than to read about it on a screen.

Having said that, I found that one of the most valuable things you take away from the session (aside from a pair of latex gloves and a face shield for CPR) is confidence. Just looking around the practice room, I noticed that one by one as a group we began to do the chest compressions with confidence, mean it when they shout out "I need you to call an ambulance immediately!" and wrap the bandages with diligence. As our instructor said, just simple knowledge can save lives. 

I enjoyed learning about the first aid so much, not to mention the feeling of reassurance that you have a bit of concrete knowledge in the area, that I'm looking into taking a longer course that covers more scenarios, even considering volunteering with them, and I'll keep you posted. If anyone is interested, I can definitely recommend, even if the dummies are a bit creepy!

Thank you for reading!

Talking About Cancer

Today at school our year group listened to a talk on cancer, given by a representative from Macmillan Cancer Support, which is a UK-based charity that strives to improve the lives of people living with cancer (link to their website is below). It was an informative and hard-hitting talk that elaborated upon what knowledge we already had of cancer and the symptoms associated with it. Primarily the talk focused upon emphasizing the need for people to know their bodies well and "know what's normal" biologically. This included demonstrations of checking for lumps in breasts and testicles, where an uncannily lifelike collection props was used by the speaker.

The most valuable piece of information that I took from the talk was that cancer affects everyone, whether they are diagnosed with cancer or they know a loved one who has been. I undertook some personal research and found that in 2008, it was estimated that there are just over two million people living with or beyond cancer in the UK who had previously been diagnosed, and this is predicted to rise by more than 3% a year. These figures were taken from Cancer Research UK, (link also below).
I was heartened to learn about the groundbreaking work that Macmillan does, and other charities like them, and I was touched by the sincerity and bravery of all the survivors of cancer that the charity represents. I recommend taking a look at their page, supporting their cause and getting more people talking about cancer.




http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Home.aspx
http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/incidence/