Elective - day 1

Phew. Today went well - I found the place, with many police outside, which surprised me at first.
My supervisor is very helpful and helped me find scrubs etc and then get sorted. I got to see 3 operations , mostly plastic surgery today and I get to see a variety of different anaesthetic environments this week - Maternity, cardiac Surgery and ICU.

The SpR I spent a large chunk of the day with was very helpful, explaining what they monitored and how, and why some of the values were still normal, even though in an awake person they would be considered very high. he also explained the 3 main classes of drugs used, and how they affect the body and why they affect you and wear off at different rates. He also guided me through the many tubes and masks that are available and some of the situations in which you would use each one and why.

We also got to see a medical emergency. walking through recovery, one of the patients was gasping for breath and making groaning noises - Stridor - which is when the airway is obstructed or narrowed, and the patient can't get enough air into the lungs. this obviously makes them a bit panicky, since they are only just coming round from the operation anyway. The patient was given an injection of a steroid to reduce any inflammation that was blocking the airway, and also inhaled some adrenaline which would achieve the same effect, tough for a much shorter time. Because the cause of the patient's stridor was not known, he was wheeled back round into an anaesthetic room, and had a fibre-optic probe put down his nose to check that there was no obstruction.

Today I also got my access all areas hospital ID card and discovered that the hospital is truly a maze and that you can get from A to B via C,D or E and that the theatre corridor connects them all.