Scalpel’s Edge

Clearing the decks

// November 28th, 2008 // 4 Comments » // Links

Just catching up on some details. It turns out I didn’t really want to know that I write like a man and I also write Applequack, like a man. But I think GenderAnalyzer is not so much with the cleverness. Seems like those results fall within the spectrum of not significantly different.

Being Kreativ

A friend, Ramona tagged me for a Kreativ Blogging award. Each winner of the award gets to list six things he or she is happy about. I often forget to be thankful, and I don’t have the excuse of thanksgiving, so here goes.

1. I am thankful for my family, including my clever husband, and two wonderful kids, MissZ (2) and MrJ (1)
2. I am thankful for Jenny and Don, our chickens. It is cool to have chickens again, as I grew up with chickens.
3. I am thankful for Christmas music, Christmas movies, and particularly Miracle on 34th Street (New version)
4. I am thankful for the time I have to spend with my kids, while doing some research. I know that I will be excited when it is time to get back to the “real world” but it will also mean less time with the rug rats.
5. I am thankful for antihistamines. I am allergic to my research materials. Without antihistamines, research is hell.
6. I am really, really thankful for the 10 days of Noosa holidays that is starting on Saturday. Although, I am a tad worried about sunrise at 4:30am.

And I get to tag a couple of people in return. So I would like to honour the following blogs:

Discovering the world again

// November 26th, 2008 // No Comments » // Surgery

Over the last few weeks, I was lucky enough to assist two surgeons on their private operating lists. Basically, every surgeon needs some sort of assistance. If you want to cut in a straight line, you need to have someone hold the tissues taut for you. Also the inside operative cavity is often bigger than the outside cut, so you need someone to hold open the edges. Sort of like how I would hold open a Christmas stocking for my kids to rifle through. And if you have contacts and a bit of operative experience, you can get the chance to be that helper.

So for the first time in 18 months (including 12 months maternity leave), I changed into scrubs, got my arms yellow, and felt like a real doctor again.

It was so cool. In a couple of long tiring sessions, I remembered what my life is about. Not cannulating rodent bile ducts, but fighting honest disease in real people.

It helps that I was assisting two young surgeons, who I like and respect. And they were doing nice surgery - challenging cases, which weren’t so extreme as to be “surgery on a dare”. But research also has a completely different focus - more solitary, more disease focussed. Surgery is about skills and relationships (believe it or not) - with staff, patients and your inner doctor. I had completely forgotten how it felt.

Thanks Malcolm and Richard, for reminding me of where I am headed.

Dear non-medical research colleague

// November 24th, 2008 // 5 Comments » // Rants, Surgery

Please don’t be insulted.

When I say that yours is a 9 to 5 job, it is not to say that you really work 9 to 5 every day. It is to say that you don’t work 7am until 10pm.

When I say that you don’t work weekends, it is not to say that you never work weekends. It is to say that you don’t work every second weekend, at someone else’s behest.

When I say that your job is flexible, it is not to say that it is part time, or light weight. It is to say that you can have a day off, and not have to worry about a colleague being sued because she is covering your patients and is unable to cope. It is to say that you can choose to leave early if you have a special event, and not have to stay far beyond your rostered hours to save your patient when you don’t trust the cover resident.

When I say that your job is low in stress, it is not to say that you don’t have the same issues as everyone else. I know you have trouble finding employment, and tenure, and your job can be dissolve by a failed grant application. But stress can be about more than job security. When you have three patients coding, and your pager is beeping, you realise that the failure of an experiment is just wasted time, not stress. When you are visited by the ghosts of your failures in the middle of the night, then you can tell me about your stress.

Please don’t be insulted. I value your research and your contribution to the health of many. But I will continue to advise my medical colleagues to consider full time research to experience a more flexible lifestyle. You will never convince me.

What I learnt as a patient about healthcare providers

// November 21st, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Health, Surgery

Recently, I had a chance to be a patient, and I was reminded of the frustrations of being a patient. The clinic I dealt with was noticeably good at dealing with conveyor belt surgery. But not perfect.

• In a multidisciplinary clinic, I am much more interested in your profession than your name
• I want to sign my surgical consent form in front of someone, not on a clipboard in the waiting room
• It is infinitely better if I can talk to someone I have met before when I ring up with a problem or question. Surely that’s easy enough, when you have a clinic designed to make sure patients see the maximum number of staff.
• Patient liaison staff, who form an advisory relationship with the patient prior to surgery, should not then disappear like magic sprites.

• When you (at least pretend to) care about me, it helps me feel secure

• Seating pre-procedure patients together when they have already taken sedatives is a very good thing. It helps us really share.
• Extensive printed patient information with honest facts and figures, and minimal spin goes a long way to making me feel secure about your motives
• People on sedation should not be allowed to watch three episodes of Entourage, as they will only have to go back and watch them again.