Since I´m back at "home" and nothing interesting is going to happen in my life (just joking..), I think I´m going to end this blogger adventure at this point! I´m starting to work next monday at Tammisaari hospital, only 8weeks to go of the practical year thing. I have already signed up for the final exams in october- november, so life after Tammisaari for the most is going to contain loads of studying. And, please, don´t ask me if I´m going to specialize and in particular in which subject!
One story to go. For the final exams I had to hand in about 30 certifications (nope, no computers) about taken courses, electives, exams etc. Not to forget the famous birth certification ("Geburtsurkunde"). Well, I ordered it from the finnish register office and got it in english. Which, I suppose should not have been a problem since english is an internationally well known and understood language. But no. The germans wanted to have this list of names, addresses, birth dates etc. in german. And the translation costed me 35,70 Euros!!! Who needs this crap? Don´t they believe that I have been born? This is so german and I am so happy to get rid of that byrocracy!
tiistai 13. toukokuuta 2008
keskiviikko 30. huhtikuuta 2008
Why did I actually give Berlin a chance?
Or better, german medicine. Some examples:
On my first day I was told to be the one to mix and set the iv-infusions. Since I had never done it before (nurses do that in Scandinavia and Switzerland, and also in Germany, when the med students aren´t there= in the evenings, at night), I naturally asked a nurse for help. But since I´m a med student, she directly said and very unfriendly: " It´s not my job to show you, you have to ask the doctors for advices!". So, I said I can´t, can you show me and I assume the nurse understood that I´m a total beginner. Well, when something goes wrong (no matter what), of course we med students are the ones to be blaimed, and not friendly, very impolitely! Yep, no wonder things go wrong, if they don´t advice the new people.
I was asked to take blood samples, hemoglobin and crp, for which I needed two (!!!) tubes. I took these two and of course it went all wrong. "Usually we also take coagulation, because blaah blaah blaah" I explained that I had been asked to take those two. And the midwife explained me at least three more times that I should have taken three tubes. As if I was stupid?
After a cesarian section I was asked to go out of the operation room and tell the midwifes to prepare some pills for the patient when she´s out of the operation. Just when I was telling the message, the other doctor came running out of the operation and screamed at me, that the thing has to be done immediately! Again, am I stupid or what? I do actually understand the difference between prepare and prepare immediately, it just has to be said!
Something more advanced and for the colleagues. To the policlinic came an elder patient who was planned to get operated next day. She had some basic illnesses, high blood pressure, copd and propably something with the heart too, medications for these diseases. First of all the doctor wasn´t sure, if she should order chest x-ray or ecg, which in this patients case were definetly needed to be done before any operation. But the best thing was, that she did not order something as essential as creatinin (kidney test, which is at least at internal medicine a so standard blood test for almost anyone, young and elder), to save money!!! Instead of that she ordered a few (at least for me) totally unnecessary samples to be taken! I tried to explain it to the doctor, but again, who listenes to the students?
Six days to go...
On my first day I was told to be the one to mix and set the iv-infusions. Since I had never done it before (nurses do that in Scandinavia and Switzerland, and also in Germany, when the med students aren´t there= in the evenings, at night), I naturally asked a nurse for help. But since I´m a med student, she directly said and very unfriendly: " It´s not my job to show you, you have to ask the doctors for advices!". So, I said I can´t, can you show me and I assume the nurse understood that I´m a total beginner. Well, when something goes wrong (no matter what), of course we med students are the ones to be blaimed, and not friendly, very impolitely! Yep, no wonder things go wrong, if they don´t advice the new people.
I was asked to take blood samples, hemoglobin and crp, for which I needed two (!!!) tubes. I took these two and of course it went all wrong. "Usually we also take coagulation, because blaah blaah blaah" I explained that I had been asked to take those two. And the midwife explained me at least three more times that I should have taken three tubes. As if I was stupid?
After a cesarian section I was asked to go out of the operation room and tell the midwifes to prepare some pills for the patient when she´s out of the operation. Just when I was telling the message, the other doctor came running out of the operation and screamed at me, that the thing has to be done immediately! Again, am I stupid or what? I do actually understand the difference between prepare and prepare immediately, it just has to be said!
Something more advanced and for the colleagues. To the policlinic came an elder patient who was planned to get operated next day. She had some basic illnesses, high blood pressure, copd and propably something with the heart too, medications for these diseases. First of all the doctor wasn´t sure, if she should order chest x-ray or ecg, which in this patients case were definetly needed to be done before any operation. But the best thing was, that she did not order something as essential as creatinin (kidney test, which is at least at internal medicine a so standard blood test for almost anyone, young and elder), to save money!!! Instead of that she ordered a few (at least for me) totally unnecessary samples to be taken! I tried to explain it to the doctor, but again, who listenes to the students?
Six days to go...
keskiviikko 23. huhtikuuta 2008
Munich
I spent the last weekend in Munich, we had a SLSLO meeting (finnish medical students in Germany) in the south. It was a short visit including 12hours of sitting on the train, but it was worth it! It´s always good to get out for a few days, kind of vacation feeling... Munich seems to be nice, it has a snobbish reputation, but I did not get the impression, compared with Zurich, it´s nothing. It´s not too big (which Berlin is) and it also has loads of activities to offer. In the center is a large park "Englischer Garten", we went there of course for a beer (did some walking too)! The Biergarten season had already begun a week earlier in Berlin, only that the weather the second time was more of an enjoyment. And what I appreciate the most... the closeness to the alps!!! Oh man, I was again so enjoying the views, maybe I should go to Switzerland for work for a few years?!?
Well, for now I´m coming to Finland, in 2-3 weeks depending on if I get the last week off or not. I got a tiny appartment in Ruoholahti and am so looking forward to my own home in the central Helsinki, finally!
Well, for now I´m coming to Finland, in 2-3 weeks depending on if I get the last week off or not. I got a tiny appartment in Ruoholahti and am so looking forward to my own home in the central Helsinki, finally!
maanantai 7. huhtikuuta 2008
Sushi a'la Turkey
Berlin is very multicultural. It´s very common for f ex turkish people to run an italian restaurant. What I did not have experienced before was Sushi by turks. This small restaurant is just around the corner of my home. I was a bit hesitating at the entrance as I saw this turkish sushi cook, since I was looking for a great sushi meal. Prejudices were wrong and the snack was delicious! And the cook entertained me the whole time... If I had wanted or not.
keskiviikko 2. huhtikuuta 2008
Hier wird nicht gegessen sondern gearbeitet
A thing called lunch is unknown at the operative section of this hospital. They don´t take a break at all, there are always some ten minutes between the operations and time for a bread and a glass of water, but that´s about it. I am warmly remembering the operations at Lohja, where the operator asked his/her team (!) around lunch time at the end of an operation, if it now was a good time for a lunch break? The operations don´t end around 2-3pm like in Finland, they continue until 4pm (or later if emergencies) and the day for these doctors has definetly started at 7am or earlier! At this point many of you my friends would (again) say: " I don´t think I would want to be operated by someone, who has eaten almost nothing the whole day!".
torstai 27. maaliskuuta 2008
Back in Berlin
Things are fine, it´s very nice to be here again and in particular for just a "visit"! The flat and my roommate are cool, the location is fabulous! I´ve always wanted to live in Prenzlauer Berg and now finally I´m kind of in the middle and I´m not anymore the one who always has to get somewhere for a coffee or beer because many of the awesome bars are just around the corner! As you see, this is one of the most important facts when choosing the place to live... No, but I´m very satisfied!
The internship is ok, I basicly didn´t have any expectations, I wanted to be prepared for evrything possible and I suppose the attitude is not bad at all, since now things can actually only turn out better than expected! The people are very nice (which is not typical for Berlin) and the doctors try to show me as much as they have time for, which isn´t much. I´m propably going to be assisting the operations for most of the time. And I doubt that I will be allowed to do stuff, f.ex. sew. But, still I´m going to see loads of things and the doctors explain a lot! And, the day for me ends between 2-4 pm and I have every week a day for studying, so I actually work just 4 days a week!!! This is something I soooo appreciate after Switzerland! My standard assignments are naturally the taking of blood samples, setting infusions and iv needles. This is stuff which nurses do in Scandinavia and Switzerland, it was about 3-4 years ago that I for the last time took blood samples or set iv needles , but I managed it well today! I suppose it´s like biking... you´ll never forget it.
The internship is ok, I basicly didn´t have any expectations, I wanted to be prepared for evrything possible and I suppose the attitude is not bad at all, since now things can actually only turn out better than expected! The people are very nice (which is not typical for Berlin) and the doctors try to show me as much as they have time for, which isn´t much. I´m propably going to be assisting the operations for most of the time. And I doubt that I will be allowed to do stuff, f.ex. sew. But, still I´m going to see loads of things and the doctors explain a lot! And, the day for me ends between 2-4 pm and I have every week a day for studying, so I actually work just 4 days a week!!! This is something I soooo appreciate after Switzerland! My standard assignments are naturally the taking of blood samples, setting infusions and iv needles. This is stuff which nurses do in Scandinavia and Switzerland, it was about 3-4 years ago that I for the last time took blood samples or set iv needles , but I managed it well today! I suppose it´s like biking... you´ll never forget it.
torstai 20. maaliskuuta 2008
Short update
No Malaysia, I haven´t got, not even until today, the official offer letter. So I suppose it was more clever to cancel the flight. Crappy situation to arrive after x hours flight on the other side of the world and find out not to have an elective posting. It would have ment eight extra weeks of internships, no final exams in october but in april 2009... I´ll much rather wait for life after graduation and save my Lonely Planet Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei for later!
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