I recently returned from a fantastic week at Addenbrooke’s
Hospital, spent with the neurosurgical team. This was my first week spent in
hospital accommodation (as it’s very far away from me!), which was surprisingly
pleasant and made me feel more part of the hospital. Most of my time was spent
on ward rounds with consultants and their teams. I really enjoyed being able to
see CT and MRI scans, and I even found I could make sense of (some of) them!
Most of the patients were post-surgical, having had tumours removed or
craniectomiess, so the doctors spent a lot of time talking to patients about
their recoveries and treatments. I also spent a day in the NCCU, which was my
first time in this kind of intensive environment. It was fascinating, if very
busy, mainly due to two extremely sick patients. Whilst the other patients all
had significant care needs, the two patients had whole teams of doctors and
nurses surrounding them. In addition, it showed me the difficulties of doing CT
scans on patients who needed to be connected to IV drips and other machines as
they had to be done in situ, meaning the machines had to be carefully
manoeuvred through the ward and into position.
I was struck by the size of the team and the resources used on a single
patient – the NHS is a service to be proud of. Unfortunately, the patient died
despite the best efforts of the teams involved. All in all, I had a very
enjoyable week and have learnt a lot about neurology and neurosurgery!
