Empty Decorations

The first Wednesday of August is the day that you shouldn't get admitted into hospital (in the UK, that is). In fact, you should try your best to not get admitted during the first couple of weeks of August as it's changeover time, with new doctors roaming the corridors with bewildered looks on their faces. So instead of 'best care', you'll either get young doctors who aren't quite sure about what to do or you'll be at a hospital that's severely short-staffed as a number of doctors have gone off for their induction/orientation sessions.

Or in worst case scenarios, you'll have a wonderful mixture of both.

My first day at the new place wasn't horrendous in a clinical sense, but it was immensely trying in other ways. A day full of induction, which includes gems like 'washing hands will save your patients' lives' and 'your ID badge will serve to identify you', is almost enough for sanity to appear as a distant horizon and make you grab for the nearest shotgun and blast the head of the next idiot who dares state the obvious.

And as usual, the organisation was lamentable and as we all know, disorganisation really pisses me off. A bit of careful thought might have made life a little easier, but it's probably too much to ask. It was such a mundane day that I almost felt amused when one of the new house officers got called off for a cardiac arrest and she was quite literally running up and down the room with a look of utter horror, not quite knowing what to do or where to go. Of course, I started to feel bad for her a couple of seconds later. Not quite fair on her, really.

Tomorrow will be the start of proper clinical work. In the meanwhile, I still need to unpack. Am currently multi-tasking though; writing this entry, trying to get a friend to feel better, unpacking and eating my poor excuse for a dinner. The aim is to get the place to resemble normality by tomorrow night, and then I can laze back and look forward to my little road trip with Jo this weekend. After which, the calm really should end and preparation for the exam should begin i earnest.