The End of My First Rotation of GPST2

Revising for the AKT exam is slowly taking over my life, but all booked for January ahhhhh.

The AKT is the Applied Knowledge Test and this is a 3 hour and 10 minute exam with 200 questions that we have to pass as part of GP training. It has questions covering clinical knowledge, primary care admin, and evidence based practice and costs £470.

And no, this isn’t a fee that is covered by our study budget, as exam fees are yet another cost of being a doctor that most people don’t realise, in addition to college membership fees, GMC membership and indemnity cover. So I WILL pass first time (by God’s grace) because I most definitely will NOT be paying for this exam again!

In other news, this week brought me to the end of my first rotation of GPST2 year, which involved me having an integrated training post (ITP) that split my week between jobs in a specialised GP surgery for deprived patient groups and Children’s A&E.

I did mean to do more updates on my day to day life over the last four months but my brief hiatus from blogging meant that didn’t happen. So here are some highlights:

What was I good at?

Children’s A&E: Examining children and getting them to cooperate with this by singing to them. Kids love Disney!

GP: Medication reviews- did so many of these and now a lot more confident with them.

What made me nervous?

Children’s A&E: Rashes! I hadn’t seen a lot of these prior to working in the department as I hadn’t done a Paeds job before, and boy did I see these in A&E- really great learning experiences to see Scarlet Fever, HSP and Measles for the first time.

GP: Patients wanting to be prescribed Pregabalin. Always a tough consultation when I had to explain that they would need a urine screen first as per the practice policy…

Useful thing I’ve learnt?

Children’s A&E: See above re: rashes.

GP: How to start a patient on Methadone.

The last time I cried at work was?

The day I was asked to take off my Free Palestine badge in GP.

My happiest work moment so far?

The days I got to go to the post natal wards to practice newborn baby checks – sooo many cute babies, it made me so broody!

Would I work here again?

Children’s A&E: Absolutely YES. Great team, approachable seniors who provided a great environment for learning and I had so much fun everyday.

GP: No. I go into more detail on the reason for this here, but long story short I won’t work somewhere that would silence me from standing up for what I believe in. And that’s all I have to say about that.

Overall I really enjoyed this ITP rotation, and I feel like this is what I’d like my working week to look like when I’m a GP. Having a varied week makes work so much more interesting and less monotonous, and I would love to work in Children’s A&E as a GP in the future, which is something a lot of A&Es now have so watch this space…

Opposing Genocide Should Not Be Political

This week, my workplace implemented a new uniform policy because I’ve been wearing a Free Palestine badge. They said that even wearing just a Palestine badge would be too “political” and sent this out today:

It was escalated to HR and the BMA, and long story short: they’re allowed to make me do this as long as every “political” statement from staff also gets disallowed, hence the new policy.

To say I am disappointed would be an understatement. I fundamentally believe that this is an humanitarian issue, not a political one, and as healthcare professionals we should all be concerned about the disregard of international law, as well as moved by the plight of our colleagues under attack in Palestine.

Innocent civilians are being killed, and hospitals are no longer safe. So I think showing solidarity with them is important, especially us healthcare professionals at work, because we have the privilege of working in a safe environment, and unlike the brave doctors in Gaza, we’re not having to take care of and treat patients under such horrific settings.

Raising awareness of what is going on is a moral and humanitarian duty, not a political one, so FREE PALESTINE.

And to all the MPs who voted against a ceasefire yesterday, as well as those who abstained, history has its eyes on you all.

To get involved in local action calling for a ceasefire in Palestine, click here.

The Last 45 Days in Pictures

Hello, old friend.

This is probably the longest it’s been since I updated this blog, and it’s definitely been a tough couple of weeks. I’m feeling better now so I think I can go back to more regular updates.

A picture says a thousand words, so here are a couple to recap some of the things I’ve been up to: