Having fun in the new Royal

Hey everyone

Since my last update, we've all started our clinical attachments and Duy has moved to Livingston (finally! ;) j/k). It's only a short bus ride for me to the new Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh where the attachment is - only about 10 mins by bus on a bad traffic day.

It was kind of strange on the first day trying to find my way around this new hospital (which seemed vaguely familiar to Perth hospitals, but totally different as well!). After bumbling around for a bit, I eventually found myself on ward 205 - the Gastro/Liver ward - which is probably where I'll spend most of my time.

There are two teams working on the ward, both with one junior house officers, a senior house officer and a registrar. There are also consultants obviously - the main one I'm attached to is Prof Hayes. More about him later.

The people on the teams are all pretty nice. They seemed a lot more weary than the doctors in Perth (I think the hours they work are a little more harsh) and they seem to be busy with all sorts of silly little tasks that docs in Perth don't need to worry about. For example - the doctors' room on 206 has only one computer. One computer. Only one computer!

One computer.

They have to get all the blood results from the ONE computer, copy them into the notes, and then show the consultants on the rounds! There's also no PACS obviously, so they have actual films - which is a real pain when they get lost or stolen by some other team. So as you can imagine, the doctors here are even more like secretaries than the ones at home, always having to copy and write things out by hand. The room itself is a total mess, obviously. i don't think ward clerks exist over here so it's all a bit run-down really. Makes you realise how futuristic RPH and Charlies are.

Prof Hayes. The first thing he said to me when he found out I was the elective student from Edinburgh was - "What's up with your batters?"

I was like: "Huh?"

But then it clicked! he was talking about cricket - a language I understand fluently. So he and I have actually gotten along pretty well - talking about the Australia - South Africa game and how Australia's batting lineup looked like it was going to crumble but then we won! Anyway.

Sarah's hospital and bus stop is actually further away than mine, and she doesn't have a buddy going to the same place as her ( I have Dino, that old rascal). So she found it quite tough to start off with but I think she's doing really well coping with being by herself now.

Today we went to the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh and had a look around the museum there. It was really cool to read about the history of surgery and medicine in general and see all the old specimens and tools that they used back in the day. It was awesome.

I think that's about it.... Where are the comments? How come nobody bothers to comment to anything anymore? I'm so disappointed. :(

Sid - we saw West Register Street! It's so nondescript - just a crappy street with an awesome name! check the pics link for more...

Lyn-Lee - Happy new year to all you back home too.

David - good to hear from you again. Happy new year and thanks for leaving a comment!

Later everyone.