Wednesday 11 June 2008

Hospital Trekking

One of the parts of my job as a junior doctor that doesn’t often get acknowledged is its physical aspect.
I was on call today and as part of my duties I visited main theatres, three surgical wards, the intensive care unit, the discharge lounge, two medical wards, day case theatres, the surgical assessment unit, the paediatric ward, the Department of Anaesthesia offices, the gynaecology ward and A&E resus.
Trust me, it’s a LOT of walking (and sometimes running) and after a 13hr shift, I frequently come home with my legs aching and my feet throbbing, just like they are now, in fact. I’d actually be interested in how far I walk on a typical on call shift, maybe I should get one of those pedometer thingies and find out.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would keep quiet about this. The NHS are already charging you for your on call room. They will start to charge you 'gym membership' if you mention the amount of exercise you do at work.
P

Anonymous said...

PS;
Let us know how you get on in your exams. Good luck.
P

Anonymous said...

i used to be a hospital porter and depending on how busy / short staffed then in an 8 hour shift we did anything between 12 and 18, not including the extra distance by changing altitude (as there is little point in waiting for a lift that never comes). In steel toecap boots it wasnt much fun, and certainly not for £10k a year.

hope the results went in your favour.

Elaine said...

Funnily enough, even for a lowly midwife, I didn't do much running/walking, but standing all night (with time between cases only to grab a juice) in theatre clogs left me with swollen, sore feet and almost unable to walk home. (then I bought a scooter.)

Anonymous said...

I feel your pain about feet at the end of a long day. Have you tried Crocs? They really help my feet.

Med student to be
xx

ps. well done for getting through the exam. Good luck!

SSS said...

Crocs are the footwear of the devil. Besides, they don't meet 'Elf and Safety standards because of the holes.

Did you get the pedometer?

JustAporter said...

Im a hospital porter, and yesterday I wore my Pedometer for the first 4 hours of my shift. In those for hours I took 11000 steps.

EEK! I feel you pain I really do, as does the tendon in my right leg which is screaming for an ice pack!