JAMES’S HOSPITAL WORK EXPERIENCE
My final week of work experience was incredible. I filled a form out hoping I would be in the selection process to be part of the TY program that they were running in the hospital. The respiratory doctor is my neighbour and I talked to him about how interested I was about the course he was running.
I was thrilled and over the moon when he said that two other girls and myself were chosen to be part of his TY week program.
My work experience started on Monday at 8 so that ment I had to be up super early in order to get there on time. I had to get three busses but it was all definitely worth it in the end. The consultants name was Barry o Connell. He gave us a tour of the hospital and showed us our way around. To my amazement we were allowed to look in on one of his surgeries. One surgery that I saw a lot was called bronchostomy. It was a technique used for patients to see what was happening in the lungs and why they were getting sick. They put a tube down somebody’s oesophagus with a camera on the tube showing them their lungs. After that they take a biopsy of the skin in the lungs and get it sent to the labs to see if cancer or other tumours are present. It was incredible to see it in person as the only other time I saw it was on Greys Anatomy! Barry O’Connell also got us our own set of scrubs so we felt like real doctors.
We then went round to the TB wards with Anne-Marie, these patients were mixed in ages and all had different symptoms and locations of TB. I loved being part of the team and walking around with them. It was incredible to be able to listen to people problems and learn more about TB. I learnt that TB can form anywhere around the body not just the lungs. It is only contagious if it’s in the lungs.
On Wednesday and Thursday we spent our hours down in A&E department. Patients young and old came in with different injuries and illnesses. It was interesting to see that the amount of illnesses and diseases coming in were from smoking. On Friday we went to the Trinity Centre where students who were studying medicine practice. We got to be included in stitching,bandaging and how to insert an IV drip. We then went to physiotherapy where Martina and her team let us try out all the equipment and we also got to take paitents for walks and chat to them. In the afternoon to finish off our week we were sent to radiology with Peter Beddy .We got to look and examine different types of CAT scans,x-rays and MRI scans.
In my week there I learned that each specialty has great depth to it, no matter what section you are working in there is a lot to do to help people. To see the doctors at work in real life and not just on the TV is amazing. The way they handle paitents is extraordinary. The doctors were all very friendly and made me enjoy my experience there. It makes me think that I would love to be part of a specialist team trying to help people, they act as a family and get the job done but still have a laugh no matter what. They did not know what was going to happen each day but no matter what happened they found a way to fix a person who was in pain. I wish I was there for longer but even being there for a week I learnt so much and will always remember this TY experience.