One thing that annoys the Fuddled medic is people who don’t appreciate how lucky they are. At some stage (or quite regularly) medical students will get bored sitting in clinics staring at the back of the ophthalmologists head or standing in theatre. All medical students should be acutely aware that if they don’t really want to be there, many hundreds of other students would jump to have that opportunity.
Perhaps this is why the Fuddled Medic gets annoyed when she see’s other students skipping stuff. The time you skip a nursing shift or a clinic is a time that could be given to someone else. On a personal note there are clinics that were inspiring but the FM could only go to one due to other students being roistered in. The FM could have gone twice if she had known other students weren’t going to turn up.
So why the title of this blog post? One problem is that a significant proportion of people who got medical school come from a background where they have everything handed to them on a plate. How can you appreciate medical school when you have had to do relatively little work to get in? If you’ve been told what’s going to appear in exams, you’ve been coached in ethics, you’ve had lectures put on for you by the school, you’ve been coached on how to answer interview questions?
Does this post make me bitter? Or is it a valid observation? Certainly I don’t want a class war. And the Fuddled Medic has many good friends who went to private school, the difference being they appreciate how lucky they are.
Sunday, 5 June 2011
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
Culture
The FM has been reading about the Panorama program about abuse at Winterbourne House. After reading about it and watching some of the clips she doesn’t think she could watch the program - it would be too much. But unfortunately the FM is not surprised. This type of thing is common and the FM believes part of it is due to the private sector being involved in the providing of care to vulnerable adults.
The FM has briefly blogged on this before. A significant part of it is due to staff being on minimum wage and a high staff turnover. And my next statement may seem judgemental, but if you pay minimum wage and as a society give the impression that care work is not worthwhile then you will attract the “wrong” type of people for the job.
Private care homes are very good at telling the regulatory bodies what they want to hear. The only way to reduce the amount of abuse is to have inspections that are completely unannounced and at random times.
But that won’t be enough, let’s face it the vast majority of people don’t give a dam about people with profound learning disability or mental health problems. We simply don’t consider them a worthy part of the population. We are more than happy for an important job such as being a care or support worker to be done by people who have relatively few qualifications and a poor educational background to do this job for pittance.
Coupled with the fact we are happy for private companies to provide the relevant training. And what will they do? Do it as cheaply as possible
The FM has briefly blogged on this before. A significant part of it is due to staff being on minimum wage and a high staff turnover. And my next statement may seem judgemental, but if you pay minimum wage and as a society give the impression that care work is not worthwhile then you will attract the “wrong” type of people for the job.
Private care homes are very good at telling the regulatory bodies what they want to hear. The only way to reduce the amount of abuse is to have inspections that are completely unannounced and at random times.
But that won’t be enough, let’s face it the vast majority of people don’t give a dam about people with profound learning disability or mental health problems. We simply don’t consider them a worthy part of the population. We are more than happy for an important job such as being a care or support worker to be done by people who have relatively few qualifications and a poor educational background to do this job for pittance.
Coupled with the fact we are happy for private companies to provide the relevant training. And what will they do? Do it as cheaply as possible
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Apologies
The blog has been neglected of late with shoddy posts at best. I am therefore going to take three weeks off from posting. Hopefully when I decided to start postings again my head will be full of fun, innovative though thought provoking posts that you usally get on other blogs.
Sunday, 15 May 2011
Thursday, 12 May 2011
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Pens and Pencils
Apparently the Americans spent $20,000 on developing a pen that could work in space. Whilst the Russians just made do with pencils. Amazing!
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Postcard time!
The FM is now revising for his exams, a common practice is to rote learn answers to MCQs. You give us hoops, we'll jump through them. Here are som for you, the readers to do!
Pre-menstrual Syndrome . . . . . . . . . . .
a. is due to lack of progesterone.
b. is a diagnosis beneath contempt.
c. may respond to removal of ovaries.
d. may respond to an LH-RH analogue and transdermal oestrogen patches.
e. may respond to cyclical selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
f. vitamin B6 is of proven efficacy.
g. progesterone drugs are of proven efficacy.
h. danazol may be effective.
i. may respond to pre-menstrual oestrogen.
j. is 'all in the mind'.
True, false or abstain!
Pre-menstrual Syndrome . . . . . . . . . . .
a. is due to lack of progesterone.
b. is a diagnosis beneath contempt.
c. may respond to removal of ovaries.
d. may respond to an LH-RH analogue and transdermal oestrogen patches.
e. may respond to cyclical selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
f. vitamin B6 is of proven efficacy.
g. progesterone drugs are of proven efficacy.
h. danazol may be effective.
i. may respond to pre-menstrual oestrogen.
j. is 'all in the mind'.
True, false or abstain!
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