paeds

paeds has been a busy rotation and reinforces my view on children. not a fan but for some reason they take to me. which's great because it makes life just that bit easier when there are 15h days to look forward to. when the going gets tough, i remind myself that the alternative i.e. a 15h day at a law firm is way worse, and i signed up for this. which is always a mood lifter because, really, i told myself once upon a time that if i was going to be awake at 5am and running on little to no sleep, i better be trying to save a life. 

it's not been vaguely as heroic i make it sound in my head but paed a&e has been exhilarating and exhausting in equal part. really enjoyed my time on NICU/PICU at great*ormond earlier this year and to be back in acute paeds has been fun. maintain that i'm better with sick babies than well ones, although my very fertile friends don't seem to mind. it's far from original to whinge that it's the parents who put me off paeds and to stay well clear of the potential GMC minefield that is the lovely topic of patient confidentiality, i think being a parent can bring out the worst in people and i've met some real monsters of late. parenthood seems to lends itself quite conveniently to an unprecedented sense of entitlement and of course most of them mean well and have their child's best interest at heart. but honestly? insisting your child has (insert dreaded childhood illness) when they don't and throwing hissy fits at the medical team is really in nobody's best interests. of course these are the very same parents who don't need any encouragement later selling some twisted story to the dailym*il. 

but hey, what do i know. parents, ugh.

rant aside, enjoying getting stuck in and being part of the a&e team, clerking patients and presenting during senior review, formulating management plans etc. feels like being a real doctor, much like how it was in primary care when i did parallel surgeries and literally ran my own clinic, with supervisor popping in to approve / overhaul my plans at the end of each consult. baby steps but do feel i'm inching towards the finish line :)