Ahmed

Every year, I write a summary of how my experience has been. I learn something new each year. My goals change. Sometimes, I think I have matured and sometimes I think I think like my 8 month old daughter. Either way, I still feel quite settled, happy in my job and with my decision of coming to the UK. MY EXPERIENCE AS A PATIENTS RELATIVE  A few things have changed for me this year- I had a daughter in April, 2018. My wife was admitted to hospital for 2 days. Working in the NHS as a doctor, I never saw things from a patients/ patients relatives' angle. The nurses were amazing and the care was exceptional- throughout her pregnancy. She had a midwife allotted to her who used to do home visits almost every month ( https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/first-midwife-appointment/ ). We were invited to pregnancy sessions at the hospital and met other to be parents. It was a wonderful and very supportive experience. My wife did not feel alone. She had a direct number to the ...

Teamwork and leadership skills are very important when you work in the NHS. As international medical graduates, we are not used to applying these terms when we are working in our home countries. However with time and experience in the NHS, we realize how important these are. I have discussed this in the form of frequently asked questions. Why is this so important? Working in hospitals is not only about application of medical knowledge. It is about managing patients together for their betterment. Here are a few examples: 1. Liaising with other members of the team like occupational, physiotherapists and discharge coordinators ensuring safe discharge of patients. 2. Involving other specialties for management of complex cases. Like involvement of the medical oncology team, cancer specialist nurses, specialty specific MDT discussions for management of a patient with newly diagnosed cancer. 3. Involvement of renal pyschologists, renal transplant surgeons, renal dieticians, renal pharma...

We all look up to our consultants who have achieved their life goals and are well settled. They lead ward rounds, make decisions and are available 24/7 to help us all year round. Ever wondered how they have reached this position? They have not had an easy life. The consultants of today were the house officers and SHOs of the 90's and registrars in the early 2000s. They have not had an easy life as a doctor.  In the 90's- foundation year and SHO doctors were the ONLY doctors in the hospital. The registrar was at home and was available by telephone. At that time, no one would dare call the consultant. As a result, house officers and senior house officers used to manage all sorts of emergencies in the hospital and they had a lot of experience. The hours were different and at times, junior doctors used to spend up to 3 days in hospital every few weekends ( and sleep in hospital) and used to be on call every 5th day ( and used to go at 9 AM in the morning and used to come back th...

As international medical graduates, we get very upset when we fail exams. Some fail their  MRCP exams, GP exams, MRCS, ALS courses, etc. Here are a few reasons behind this: 1. It is a cultural thing. Our families have always expected us to get straight A's from the day we gave our first exam/test/ had our first assessment. They wanted us to be the best - they did not mean any harm but this is how the culture in our home countries is like. I am sure you have seen the memes for Asian dads expecting 100% even if it was a gym class. 2. Sailing through medical school and thus having high expectations from ourselves. This is something which you can self treat. Give yourself a break. You are human. 3. Other factors - The amazing weather in winter and the fact that you are away from your family does not help. So, what is the solution to this then? 1. Talk to your supervisors. When I failed my PACES, I went to work the following day and informed the team of consultants and once of them ask...

I am going to disappoint you by saying that I do not know the answer to this question. However the purpose of this blog is not to tell you what the best specialty in the world is but to allow you to find out what the best specialty for YOU is.  There is a difference here - What you like may not be preferred by others and vice versa. Talking to specialists in that field can be misleading at times as they will try their best to "sell" their specialty to you.  So what is the solution then? I will start off with my personal experience.  When I came to the UK, I wanted to specialize in gastroenterology. My father is a gastroenterologist in my home country and I loved the endoscopy suite. In my free time, I used to go there and just watch everyone's bowels on the screen - I even knew what normal and abnormal looked like at a very young age. Maybe this is what sparked my interest in this field. Or maybe it was that I knew everything about this subject in my final year...