I'm not sure if it's just because I've moved to sunny Scotland, but it definitely feels like Autumn is on the horizon. In life terms, for me it's definitely 'Spring'- new job, new city, new adventure awaits! Who says turning 30 means life gets quieter....
The Mister and I have migrated Up North in search of that career/life utopia known as Work Life Balance - or rather, having everything we could dream of from both of our jobs with everything we could dream of for our lives (read: buzzing city, mountains, the sea and such) all on our doorstep. My new job means I continue my Oncology specialisation training and do research all the way to Consultant-dom - exciting stuff! As anyone who has ever moved house will know, it's been rather epic - after all, the downside of being 'in one's thirties' is that a significant accumulation of 'Stuff' has happened. Long gone are the days of fitting everything in the back of my Fiat Punto. I've reached the stage where we have to put furniture in storage, and need not just a van but actual human help to move our belongings from A to B. Ahhh! I'm a grown up!!
A few weeks into my new job, it's all starting to slot together. My new colleagues and department could not have been more welcoming, and the training environment feels very supportive. We've certainly had a thorough induction which is never to be taken for granted, and always appreciated! It may surprise those who don't work in healthcare to know that there is amazingly little overlap between the day-to-day computer and information systems in different healthcare trusts. It's amazing how many different ways there are to communicate a blood pressure, prescribe a drug or request a chest x-ray. Purple forms (Do Not Rescuscitate forms) are now Red Forms. Aria (chemotherapy prescribing software) is now ChemoCare. EPR (electronic patient record) is now Trak. Everything is different!!! Of course, that's in addition to all the newness that comes with any new job - new people, new logins x1000, new buildings (yet to work in a hospital that isn't a maze!!!).
I became an Oncology Registrar six whirlwind months ago and I've had the rather odd realisatisation that I may have actually learned something during that time. Becoming a specialist was incredibly daunting. I was forced to have faith in myself, and trust in what I did, and didn't, know. I survived a steep learning curve, and by the time I moved up here, I felt like I was better than when I started (with a blimmin long way to go!). I felt like people (the patients as much as my colleagues) trusted me, and I started to trust myself. I felt like, to a few people at least, I might have made a positive difference. Conversely, I felt like I had been honest and reflective when things hadn't gone so well, and, overall, I felt accepting that it was OK to still be learning and ask questions.
Reflecting on my first months as a registrar, the most useful and important thing I learned, courtesy of a superb consultant I worked for, was this - I should trust in the relationship between me and a patient. Listen to their anxieties, meet them with your own, and have faith in each other when you make decisions together. I also remain convinced of the best baseline triad of rules for any doctor (coined by an Emergency Medicine physician I think) - don't be a d***, and be kind to yourself and others. The middle of these is the one I think many of us struggle with, and I hope an area in which I'll improve.
Leaving a place I knew was incredibly daunting, having done all of my postgraduate medical training there (2 plus 3 years), meeting some incredible mentors and making precious friends. But it's exciting to look forward and get a fresh perspective. I'm hoping to blog a bit more often about working in cancer care, and about cancer research, and I hope you'll enjoy reading along.
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| Scottish sunset loveliness |
The Mister and I have migrated Up North in search of that career/life utopia known as Work Life Balance - or rather, having everything we could dream of from both of our jobs with everything we could dream of for our lives (read: buzzing city, mountains, the sea and such) all on our doorstep. My new job means I continue my Oncology specialisation training and do research all the way to Consultant-dom - exciting stuff! As anyone who has ever moved house will know, it's been rather epic - after all, the downside of being 'in one's thirties' is that a significant accumulation of 'Stuff' has happened. Long gone are the days of fitting everything in the back of my Fiat Punto. I've reached the stage where we have to put furniture in storage, and need not just a van but actual human help to move our belongings from A to B. Ahhh! I'm a grown up!!
A few weeks into my new job, it's all starting to slot together. My new colleagues and department could not have been more welcoming, and the training environment feels very supportive. We've certainly had a thorough induction which is never to be taken for granted, and always appreciated! It may surprise those who don't work in healthcare to know that there is amazingly little overlap between the day-to-day computer and information systems in different healthcare trusts. It's amazing how many different ways there are to communicate a blood pressure, prescribe a drug or request a chest x-ray. Purple forms (Do Not Rescuscitate forms) are now Red Forms. Aria (chemotherapy prescribing software) is now ChemoCare. EPR (electronic patient record) is now Trak. Everything is different!!! Of course, that's in addition to all the newness that comes with any new job - new people, new logins x1000, new buildings (yet to work in a hospital that isn't a maze!!!).
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| Moving = chaos... |
I became an Oncology Registrar six whirlwind months ago and I've had the rather odd realisatisation that I may have actually learned something during that time. Becoming a specialist was incredibly daunting. I was forced to have faith in myself, and trust in what I did, and didn't, know. I survived a steep learning curve, and by the time I moved up here, I felt like I was better than when I started (with a blimmin long way to go!). I felt like people (the patients as much as my colleagues) trusted me, and I started to trust myself. I felt like, to a few people at least, I might have made a positive difference. Conversely, I felt like I had been honest and reflective when things hadn't gone so well, and, overall, I felt accepting that it was OK to still be learning and ask questions.
Reflecting on my first months as a registrar, the most useful and important thing I learned, courtesy of a superb consultant I worked for, was this - I should trust in the relationship between me and a patient. Listen to their anxieties, meet them with your own, and have faith in each other when you make decisions together. I also remain convinced of the best baseline triad of rules for any doctor (coined by an Emergency Medicine physician I think) - don't be a d***, and be kind to yourself and others. The middle of these is the one I think many of us struggle with, and I hope an area in which I'll improve.
Leaving a place I knew was incredibly daunting, having done all of my postgraduate medical training there (2 plus 3 years), meeting some incredible mentors and making precious friends. But it's exciting to look forward and get a fresh perspective. I'm hoping to blog a bit more often about working in cancer care, and about cancer research, and I hope you'll enjoy reading along.
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| Turning 30 ain't so bad! |
