Related Posts:
- Surviving On-Night In The Postnatal Ward (Maternity 1 & 3) As A House Officer In Sarawak General Hospital – Housemanship Diaries
- Surviving On-Night In The Antenatal Ward (Maternity 2) As A House Officer In Sarawak General Hospital – Housemanship Diaries
- The Types Of Wards In The O&G Department Of Sarawak General Hospital – Housemanship Diaries
- Being An O&G Operating Theatre House Officer – Housemanship Diaries
- The Labour Ward, O&G Department – Housemanship Diaries
- The Orthopaedics Posting – Housemanship Diaries
- My “Coming Morning” Priority – Housemanship Diaries
- 8 Best Advices I Will Remember For The Longest Time – The Orthopaedic Posting
- My Second Posting During Housemanship – Obstetrics & Gynaecology
- I Survived 26 Days Of Tagging In O&G – Housemanship Diaries
Finally, the last of the “On-night” shift in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Sarawak General Hospital.
The Gynaecology ward is situated in a separate building, quite a distance from the maternity wards and the labour ward and is also the ward where my seniors mentioned that we are able to sleep throughout the night once everything settles down.
Sadly, that was not the case for me. I did my rotation in Gynaecology during my last days in the O&G Department. I was allocated there for two weeks there before they switched me back into the Maternity pool. However, I did a number of night shifts in Gynaecology.
The “ON shift” in Gynaecology is the same as the night shift in Maternity which is from 7pm till 9am the following day. Similarly, upon our arrival to the Gynaecology ward, we are expected to take picture of the admission board and upload it in the “MO-HO” WhatsApp group as well as the total patient count. This is then followed by receiving handover from the “Long-day” house officers and to start reviewing.
The beds that we would review are usually beds situated in the acute bay, patients who are admitted and yet to be seen by the medical officers in the Emergency Department or Labour Ward.
Next, we will wait for the medical officers to come and do their on-call review. Just like in the Maternity ward, we usually do not review the patients again with the specialists unless specifically asked by the specialists.
For the rest of the night onwards would be helping out with “Plan D” of the patients which are planned discharges. Some patients would require the “Plan D” to be typed as they are long staying patients or their case is rather complicated.
This is followed by taking of the coming morning bloods as well as attending to any acute issues.
Usually the amount of “coming morning” bloods in Gynaecology ward is extremely less or sometimes none. Thus, when all necessary plans are completed, most of us would proceed to sleep.
Sounds good, right? That is of course an “ideal” night.
However, things may not necessary go according to plan. As I mentioned earlier, this was during my senior’s time.
My experience as a “Gynae ON” was different as we experienced a shortage of house officers during that time. It was the transition period for certain batches of house officers. Thus, many applied for leaves towards the end of the posting.
There were only a total of 4 house officers during the night shift. 1 allocated to Maternity 1 / Maternity 3, 1 to Maternity 2, 1 to Labour Ward who will be in charge of PAC as well.
Thus, who will be the OT (Operating Theatre) house officer? The Gynae ward house officer.
A typical night for me in the Gynae Ward would be me going to the Gynae ward to update the patient count on WhatsApp and to leave my bag followed by rushing into the Maternity OT or Main OT to scrub in and assist in any caesarean cases or operating cases.
In between, I would go out to the OT and return to Gynae ward if there are no cases being called only to have myself called again.
Thus, what about the oncall reviews?
I do not complete it. The patients will definitely be seen by the oncall Medical Officer but without a house officer. I would only return to complete the active joblists if any or to help update. If I am unable to, the staff nurses would contact Labour Ward directly.
This will continue until morning around 7am. Then, as usual, I will be “summoned” in the group to help with any discharges or STAT bloods or simple referrals such as pharmacy referrals or physiotherapist referrals.
Finally, at 9am, I return home.
Personally, I did not really prefer the Gynaecology ward. However, the thing that I did enjoy was being able to assist in the Operating Theatre which I would choose any day over being in the Labour Ward.
What I did not prefer was having to change every time, from OT and back to ward and vice versa. I prefer to remain statically in charge of just one place. Nonetheless, it was a good experience.
Related Posts:
- Surviving On-Night In The Postnatal Ward (Maternity 1 & 3) As A House Officer In Sarawak General Hospital – Housemanship Diaries
- Surviving On-Night In The Antenatal Ward (Maternity 2) As A House Officer In Sarawak General Hospital – Housemanship Diaries
- The Types Of Wards In The O&G Department Of Sarawak General Hospital – Housemanship Diaries
- Being An O&G Operating Theatre House Officer – Housemanship Diaries
- The Labour Ward, O&G Department – Housemanship Diaries
- The Orthopaedics Posting – Housemanship Diaries
- My “Coming Morning” Priority – Housemanship Diaries
- 8 Best Advices I Will Remember For The Longest Time – The Orthopaedic Posting
- My Second Posting During Housemanship – Obstetrics & Gynaecology
- I Survived 26 Days Of Tagging In O&G – Housemanship Diaries
The Theoretical Doctor 