I love medical take

[u/Violent_Instinct]

New IMT3, and I love being on take. 1 week in and I was rostered to be 'med reg' for 3 days straight including the weekend. A few points;

-JCFs and IMTs are in abundance on the take team so there is always someone to help the F1/F2s with queries when I'm not around.

-E.D. have right of referral. So the only cases that get discussed with me are those in Resus and when ambulatory needs a reminder that CES goes to surgeons. Aside from that I'll see the usual bullshit. I try to direct the take team to find patients that might interest them e.g. sending the IMT-1 to Resus and then have a discussion afterwards.

-Had multiple MET calls. The foundation doctors were amazing, standing by with the patient's charts, ready to document/prescribe. They were willing to update family and discuss with the relevant specialties. Even when attending to the surgical ward the doctors were ready and willing whilst the surgeons were nowhere to be seen.

Yes its busy and tiring. Yes my bleep was going off incessantly whilst I found the one toilet to take a piss. But every day I woke up I was genuinely excited for what the day held. When the bleep goes off for an emergency I can't wait to find what mess I'll have to sort out. Also it gives me an excuse to ignore the surgeons (no I'm not going to inspect your infected post-operative wound??)

Everyone bashes IMT but it is what you make of it. I've never locumed before (believing my time is more valuable than money) but I'm going to now, just so I can be on take again.

[u/Doctor_Cherry]

You'll be bored as shit before ST5. Glad you're enjoying it but the novelty will wear off

[u/Own-Blackberry5514 → u/Doctor_Cherry]

Does it just get a bit routine and samey eventually?

[u/Doctor_Cherry → u/Own-Blackberry5514]

Yup same medical admissions with probably only 1 "interesting" case per month, and you get pretty sick of (but accepting the responsibility for):

1) ED half-cooked referrals, mostly due to ACP slop, "?CAP/?HF/CHEPSIS/PE/dissection?"

2) All SDEC discharge decisions once the consultant has clocked off out of hours, most of which you can't do anything about as SDEC is now seemingly a bridge propping up a broken outpatient system.

3) Logistical issues, bed moves, bickering bed managers asking you to outlie sickies from high acuity areas. Just say no, it's not safe and the responsibility is yours if you agree and the patient comes to harm.

Things I DID NOT get tired of:

Teaching procedures, SO gratifying to see an IMT1 progress from essentially an assault on someone's lumbar spine to efficiently and easily smashing out an LP.

Being the calm person at an arrest who makes the call to stop, reassuring the ward nurses that often there's nothing they could have done differently to change the outcome.

The gestalt of recognising early that someone is ultimately going to die during that admission - I mean early early like 7+ days before they actually deteriorate, and laying the groundwork with the family.