All Engines Are Go

It's finally happened. I've got that pre-exam burst of energy that leads to serious progress.

Today was unbelievably productive.

I was in the hospital by 8am this morning, for my first day on ITU. Ward round was much more interesting than most as the other student and I had to examine EVERY patient on the ward round. Brilliant practice for OSCEs as well as being a sure fire way to make sure we weren't sleep walking the round.

I got my final 2 clinical skills sign ups on ITU too. What a relief. I now just need my attendance sign ups and some of the junior doctor's signatures co-signed by a more senior doctor.

As well as getting those bits done I got to watch an FY1 put in a perfect central line (under supervision obviously). I have no idea how she stayed so calm with 2 medical students watching her. She insists she was nervous and sweaty, but as far as any of us could she, she was awesome. I just hope I can have the same level of calm next year.

I left the hospital just before 6pm. To be honest there was a fair bit of waiting around to get those sign ups I needed, but it was worth it.

When I got home I threw a lasagne in the oven (judge me for eating a ready meal only when you see how rubbish our little hosp accom kitchen is...), had a bit of a gossip and then decided to continue the productivity.

I spent 20 mins reading some dermatology notes, something I've not covered much so far in revision. Then I got bored of reading (short attention span), so I did a mock written exam the university has made available on our intranet.

Much to my surprise I got 76% overall in the exam. This has made me so happy. I'm clearly learning something. It also means I can tone down the writtens revision a tad and really get onto the OSCE revision.

Tonight I'm going to continue to ride this wave of productivity by reading some communications OSCE stations notes. I'm also going to keep my fingers crossed that tomorrow will be as productive.

Lily xXx