The 5th and FINAL placement of third year that I have to tell you all about! This block was actually very nice and relaxed which was good because with exams starting to loom over us there was more time free for revision and practising skills that would be assessed in an OSCE.
I had actually been looking forward to my Renal placement quite a bit before I had it because one of my friends had it first and she had lots of good things to say about it. And guess what…I did really enjoy it! This placement truly made me appreciate the kidney – it’s actually such an underrated organ and deserves a tonne more love in my opinion!
As with every placement we had ward rounds and clinics available for us to attend. Renal also encompassed transplant clinics which was really cool! Would you believe after 3 whole years at medical school, practising the abdominal examination numerous times; this Renal block was the first time I actually felt a kidney – let me tell you, I was in awe!
So here’s a timetable of a typical week…
Monday
Started the Renal block off with a clinic. I was timetabled for a transplant clinic, but once I arrived there was too many students for that particular clinic so I just joined a different Renal clinic. I had to leave in the middle of the clinic to attend my block induction where we’re talked through the different opportunities that are available to us and told a little more of what we can expect of this block. The induction didn’t take long, only about half an hour, so I came back to the clinic and finished my morning off there.
I spent my free afternoon working on the week’s TCD case and I managed to finish it too which was great!
Tuesday
I had the day completely free – amazing! I spent the free time going through some of my previous cases for revision, went shopping and relaxed a bit too!
Wednesday
I had an Anaemia clinic in the morning. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay for long so I actually signed up to it because I was curious about what that could be. Turns out they have a nurse-led clinic at the hospital where patients come for Iron infusions so it was really interesting so see that running and chat to some of the patients there! After that I had my Clinical Debrief session which you should all know all about by now, but if not…it’s a weekly session we have to discuss the happenings of the week and where we present a clinical case and go through it to get used to coming up with differentials.
The afternoon Haemodialysis Clinic was cancelled so didn’t end up having that.
Thursday
Had bedside teaching in the morning . We practised examinations and talked through how dialysis works. This was actually my first bedside teaching for the block so it was in this session that I felt a kidney for the first time! In the afternoon I went back to the ward to get some of my other skills signed off. We get given a list of prescribing tasks at the beginning of the year that we have to get done – I had 2 of those left so I went and finished getting them signed off! I was so happy at the end of the day because those 2 tasks being signed off marked all my tasks for year 3 being fully complete! A relief!
It’s not on my timetable, but after 5 I actually went to an examinations practise session that was put on by the MedSoc to help us prepare for our OSCEs!
Friday
Another renal clinic in the morning!
The year 3 assessment information timetabled was actually a webinar which I could n’t get on to because my clinic over-ran quite a bit. But I knew more information was going up regarding what was covered in the webinar so I wasn’t worried about having not made it.
The afternoon was the usual discussion of our TCD case and an SCT session where we practised communication skills in preparation for our OSCE!
Saturday
I signed up for a voluntary event with a Society we have in Manchester called MOMs (Manchester Outreach Medics). When I was applying for Medicine I actually attended this very event so I thought it’d be nice to give back and volunteer for the event. The event was for sixth form students and basically involved giving them a taste of PBL by taking them through a case and then giving them a taste of medical school communication skills session through an MMI format. It was a great day!
Hope you all enjoyed reading about my week! That’s the last of it for this year, but expect to look forward to more in the next academic year (fingers crossed)!
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