This morning I finished my last locum shift up north, and have rapidly made the journey south back into more familiar territory. However my stay is short lived as tomorrow I'm off to Spain for a week to indulge in some sport climbing.
I'm obviously very excited to be off doing fun stuff instead of working, and this is pretty much the theme for December (I get to go to spain twice). Over the last 2 months, I've been doing lots of bouldering (short climbs above a crash pad, for those who aren't familiar), as I haven't had a regular climbing partner and have found myself close to the peak district, where the bouldering is great. I'm interested to see what effect it's going to have on my climbing, as I'm bouldering a lot harder than I ever have before, but it's mainly been on grit, where friction and balance are key, rather than the limestone crimps and pockets that I'm off to enjoy.
Whatever happens, it's been really enjoyable to completely change my climbing focus for a while and feel myself improving and succeeding in my own projects. Challenging myself and improving is something that I really enjoy about climbing (and sports in general), which may stem from the fact that I was never very good at sports when I was younger, and tended to shy away from them. As I progressed through my teenage years I realised that constantly comparing myself to everyone around me wasn't very helpful, and that I had my own talents (just not playing football or sprinting).
So we shall see how climbing goes, hopefully actually having holds rather than slightly less vertical bits of grit will be refreshing.
Monday, 3 December 2012
Thursday, 29 November 2012
Livin' la vida locum
Over the last month, I've been experiencing a different side of medicine - not quite the side I had hoped to be experiencing at the moment, but that is still to come in a couple of months. For the last 4 weeks, I have been working as a locum in hospitals that I never even knew where they were, let alone what they were like. It's been an interesting experience in many ways, and it's made me think about my career and how we all interact in a work setting.
I promise not all of my posts are going to be my vague pseudo-philosophical ramblings, I'm sure I'll talk about climbing, food and randomness in the near future. But for today, I'm going to pretend I'm capable of serious thought (without the weird tea-based references).
As a whole, locums have a bit of a dodgy reputation: Why can't they get a real job? Why do they ask such odd questions? Why don't they do things exactly the same way as everyone who works here normally? Why do they get paid so much?
Having now spent a while in their shoes, things have started to make a bit more sense. I understand the appeal of being able to choose where and when to work (within certain constraints), and that despite of what we're told at university and in training jobs, you can step sideways and do other things. I met people who alternated A&E work with working on remote scottish islands as the 'GP' and had good breaks in between to spend time with family and friends. Some people don't want to become super-specialised and take on lots of management roles, they just want to do what they enjoy, get paid, and no work every day of their lives.
On starting as a locum, I was viewed with a little suspicion, until I had proven my competence, and that I actually did work. It was quite similar to starting at the beginning of my first job in F1, with the exception that then I was barely competent, but that was expected and there were lots of us in the same boat. I felt out of my comfort zone, not because of the medicine, but because the place and the systems were alien to me. I asked basic questions, I prescribed drugs that we didn't have in the hospital, I wrote on the wrong kind of paper - all seemingly basic things, if you know the system.
So all fairly positive stuff about locuming, things to learn about how people live their lives, and how I can be more of a help to locums that I meet in my career. There are some things that appeal less, and made me consider my priorities. In the last month, I have crammed in quite a lot of shifts, and have been a long way from home or anyone I know. I was told quite early on that there are always more shifts available and I would be able to work on my day off on a given week, if I had nothing better to do.
I spoke to people who work full time and do locums on the weekend, which initially really suprised me; I was constantly asked where I normally work, which seemed to be the norm for short term locums. Some people had their reasons - financial issues, sick relatives to support, even saving up for a holiday or a car. A few people I spoke to told me I should do some extra shifts on my weekends off, and gave me a complete look of surprise when I told them I'd rather spend time with friends or family doing things that I love doing rather than earn an extra few hundred pounds. They didn't have an answer when I asked what they needed the extra money for. Now, I don't really mind what anyone's motivation is for working and if one person's attitude is better than another towards money, but it made me think about why I do it. Currently the answer is very simple - I don't have a regular job, because I'm going somewhere that is expensive to fly to and I'm going to support myself while volunteering for a few months.
Do I want to do extra shifts when I get a regular job? Not unless I really need to - in my life I'd rather have more time and less money than the other way round. Do I want to be a 'career locum'? Not really - I miss spending more than a few weeks in the same hospital, and I want to be a specialist. Should I stop typing? Yes.
I promise not all of my posts are going to be my vague pseudo-philosophical ramblings, I'm sure I'll talk about climbing, food and randomness in the near future. But for today, I'm going to pretend I'm capable of serious thought (without the weird tea-based references).
As a whole, locums have a bit of a dodgy reputation: Why can't they get a real job? Why do they ask such odd questions? Why don't they do things exactly the same way as everyone who works here normally? Why do they get paid so much?
Having now spent a while in their shoes, things have started to make a bit more sense. I understand the appeal of being able to choose where and when to work (within certain constraints), and that despite of what we're told at university and in training jobs, you can step sideways and do other things. I met people who alternated A&E work with working on remote scottish islands as the 'GP' and had good breaks in between to spend time with family and friends. Some people don't want to become super-specialised and take on lots of management roles, they just want to do what they enjoy, get paid, and no work every day of their lives.
On starting as a locum, I was viewed with a little suspicion, until I had proven my competence, and that I actually did work. It was quite similar to starting at the beginning of my first job in F1, with the exception that then I was barely competent, but that was expected and there were lots of us in the same boat. I felt out of my comfort zone, not because of the medicine, but because the place and the systems were alien to me. I asked basic questions, I prescribed drugs that we didn't have in the hospital, I wrote on the wrong kind of paper - all seemingly basic things, if you know the system.
So all fairly positive stuff about locuming, things to learn about how people live their lives, and how I can be more of a help to locums that I meet in my career. There are some things that appeal less, and made me consider my priorities. In the last month, I have crammed in quite a lot of shifts, and have been a long way from home or anyone I know. I was told quite early on that there are always more shifts available and I would be able to work on my day off on a given week, if I had nothing better to do.
I spoke to people who work full time and do locums on the weekend, which initially really suprised me; I was constantly asked where I normally work, which seemed to be the norm for short term locums. Some people had their reasons - financial issues, sick relatives to support, even saving up for a holiday or a car. A few people I spoke to told me I should do some extra shifts on my weekends off, and gave me a complete look of surprise when I told them I'd rather spend time with friends or family doing things that I love doing rather than earn an extra few hundred pounds. They didn't have an answer when I asked what they needed the extra money for. Now, I don't really mind what anyone's motivation is for working and if one person's attitude is better than another towards money, but it made me think about why I do it. Currently the answer is very simple - I don't have a regular job, because I'm going somewhere that is expensive to fly to and I'm going to support myself while volunteering for a few months.
Do I want to do extra shifts when I get a regular job? Not unless I really need to - in my life I'd rather have more time and less money than the other way round. Do I want to be a 'career locum'? Not really - I miss spending more than a few weeks in the same hospital, and I want to be a specialist. Should I stop typing? Yes.
Thursday, 22 November 2012
Tea Drinking
Tea drinking is a fairly ubiquitous activity throughout the world and in lots of our lives. This blog isn't going to be about tea, specifically, but it seemed like a good theme for the story of my day-to-day life.
Tea can be a quick cup grabbed in the middle of a night shift; half of it drunk when it is too hot, and the rest when it is tepid after you've dealt with whatever drama has occurred. It can be drunk from tiny china cups with little cakes and sandwiches, or consumed by the gallon when with friends or family (especially my family). Tea can be more than just a drink, it's a very British thing to offer a cup of tea in times of crisis when you don't really know what to do or say. It's almost as if making a cup of tea when everything has just fallen apart is a way to introduce a bit of normality and security that life does still exist and that you can talk about what is happening.
Tea can be the little bit of home when you are, or feel like you are, a million miles from it. It can also be part of exploring a new place: Tibetan yak-butter tea with orange-clad Buddhist monks, Morrocan mint tea in a busy souk, hibiscus tea on an overcrowded ward in a Sudanese hospital, a pint-mug in a warm Llanberis cafe, or Nepali chai provided by a random child in a Kathmandu shop. Tea has its place in many different cultures, and their respective histories.
So this blog is going to be about the thoughts of one particular tea drinker, many of them will be mundane english breakfast thoughts, but who knows where my tea drinking might take me.
Tea can be a quick cup grabbed in the middle of a night shift; half of it drunk when it is too hot, and the rest when it is tepid after you've dealt with whatever drama has occurred. It can be drunk from tiny china cups with little cakes and sandwiches, or consumed by the gallon when with friends or family (especially my family). Tea can be more than just a drink, it's a very British thing to offer a cup of tea in times of crisis when you don't really know what to do or say. It's almost as if making a cup of tea when everything has just fallen apart is a way to introduce a bit of normality and security that life does still exist and that you can talk about what is happening.
Tea can be the little bit of home when you are, or feel like you are, a million miles from it. It can also be part of exploring a new place: Tibetan yak-butter tea with orange-clad Buddhist monks, Morrocan mint tea in a busy souk, hibiscus tea on an overcrowded ward in a Sudanese hospital, a pint-mug in a warm Llanberis cafe, or Nepali chai provided by a random child in a Kathmandu shop. Tea has its place in many different cultures, and their respective histories.
So this blog is going to be about the thoughts of one particular tea drinker, many of them will be mundane english breakfast thoughts, but who knows where my tea drinking might take me.
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