BBC3 - Junior Doctors: Your Life In Their Hands

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Its Hospital in Newcastle, I keep seening the bridges!

Anyone know what Med school each one of them are from?

Looking forward to watching this!

Loved Surgery School and all the discussions it generated on this forum, particularly about the surgeon who told the female actress dying with cancer that was life during his osce type exam.

I did the mmi at SGUL and found the hardest station the breaking bad news to an actor. So having experienced something similar as an applicant it was interesting to see how a guy who had not only got into med school & completed it but had also done F1, F2 and was in a top surgical training post deal with the an osce style breaking bad news scenario.

I came across this article the other day about the Sky News woman Paula Middlehurst, basically her son was born with talipes (club foot) and on being told that her 6 day old babys foot needed to be amputated a nurse told her ´this is life´

her reaction to me was quite surprising, but goes to show it´s how you put things across that counts.

We were just about prepared for a year of club-foot treatment when we were dealt another devastating blow. As well as the club foot in his right leg, James's left leg, which had been tucked up underneath his bottom, hadn't grown properly, and never would.

He had a short thighbone (a condition called proximal femoral focal deficiency, or PFFD), no kneecap and was missing one of the two bones of the lower leg (known as fibular hemimelia). The remaining bone was bowed and too short and his foot was sticking out at right angles to his lower leg. This was a one-in-100,000 deformity and it was a totally useless limb. As a result, as James grows, this leg will not grow with him.

I fell into the arms of a nurse as I left the consulting room. I was desolate and felt myself crumple in front of her.

'This is life,' she said, with kindness and understanding. Those three words have stayed with me. In one instant she seemed to say: 'It is not your fault, face up to this and accept it. And you are not the only one.'

I have seen her since and thanked her for that moment of support. She was right there when I needed her and yet she was just doing her job.

As the hours at the hospital passed, we realised our little man might not even be able to walk. It was even more critical that his 'good' leg - the right one with the club foot - was treated expertly. This would be his primary leg - the left one would have to be reconstructed, including the removal of his foot, in order for him to wear a prosthesis.

We were distraught. I remember seeing my husband with his forehead against the hospital consulting room wall trying to take it all in. Nothing prepares you for hearing doctors talk about amputating your six-day-old baby's foot.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 62

Helenia

Original post by Becca-Sarah

Don't know about other medical schools, but I got the impression that I would not be doing one on anything but a plastic bottom until qualified...

Seriously? I was doing them (supervised) since my first surgical attachment in 4th year. It's not something worth making a big deal out of and I certainly don't think students should be prevented from doing them.

Reply 63

Becca-Sarah

Original post by Helenia

I've got my GI block coming up in June, so I guess I'll find out soon enough :dontknow:

Maybe I'm confusing it with never having to do one in an OSCE?

Reply 64

Helenia

Original post by Becca-Sarah

I've got my GI block coming up in June, so I guess I'll find out soon enough :dontknow:

Maybe I'm confusing it with never having to do one in an OSCE?

Possibly - I doubt there would be many patients volunteering for that!

Reply 65

NewStitches

Original post by spacepirate-James

This isn't some sort of gift from BBC3 to prospective medical applicants. You've got to remember that this is made for entertainment purposes, to pull in the viewers. Even some of the "hooks" like, "Suzi is thrown in at the deep end, dealing with serious emergencies in A&E." or "Lucy struggles with her emotions after telling a patient their condition is terminal." is so obviously geared towards catching your attention, thus it's plausible to imagine, at this point, the show might be quite exaggerated itself.

Imma just saying. :awesome:

Or maybe I'm just too cynical for my own good.

I will also be watching, though.

This is totally true - I filmed a reality show for BBC3 a couple of years ago (not medicine related) and the producer and crew were constantly trying to get me to do and say outrageous things!

Half the things people say on these shows are spoon-fed lines and if I'd done half the things they'd asked me to do my boyfriend would have chucked me and my family disowned me lol....

So yes although im really excited about this show, I'll definitely be taking everything with a pinch of salt. :wink:

Reply 66

Daveo

Original post by Helenia

I want to know how Lucy has managed to qualify without doing a PR on a real patient for starters. Though wonder if that's just something they're making up for the cameras.

That is actually surprisingly common. My third years all had a fit when I told them I expected them to do PRs on real patients.

Reply 67

Egypt

Original post by Helenia

Possibly - I doubt there would be many patients volunteering for that!

Didn't we all have to sign a declaration listing all the things you would be competent to do by the time you started yours FY1 job as part of the MTAS application process? I'm sure i signed a from saying I would be competent at venepuncture, canulation, ABGs, NGs, catheters etc?

I and my pals were certainly all doing these well before qualification on real patients! To be honest this was my biggest fear about qualifying and so I did as many as possible before I graduated to avoid having to do it for the first time as a qualified doctor.

Reply 68

Daveo

Really interested to see this, I suspect things will be exaggerated for TV which is a shame because a realistic documentary would be much more interesting.

Reply 69

Daveo

I know several graduates who had never done an ABG before graduation, even more who had never done a catheter and virtually none had done an NG. I include myself in the last group, my first and only NG tube was for a DOPS during F1.

Reply 70

Egypt

Original post by Daveo

Indeed, NG opportunities were few and far between, I only managed the one as a student. The only times Ive done one since have been in A&E and ITU.

Reply 71

Renal

I've not done an NG, unless you count scraping magills along the back of someone's pharynx trying to steer the bastard tube down the correct black hole.

Reply 72

stargirl16

i reckon it will pretty good. anyway at least its something to watch on tv

Reply 73

Egypt

Original post by Renal

I've not done an NG, unless you count scraping magills along the back of someone's pharynx trying to steer the bastard tube down the correct black hole.