Running the ward

Hi everyone,
The last week of the Burns placement was very exciting. The ward was extremely busy and there were very few physios (as they were busy with conferences). I was being supervised by someone who never saw burns patients.

What made the last week exciting was that I was able to liase well with the nursing staff (mind you - they are our best friends on the ward when we choose to work in public hospitals), the physios (by dividing up the workload myself), asking the doctors about the patient's situation, giving the 3rd year patients to see (for the supervisor) and telling some cross patients how good exercise is (which most believed).

It was good practice and by the end of it all - i was able to give a verbal handover to the physios in charge and write the weekend list.

My supervisor gave the feedback that my communication had improved and it was a great opportunity to run the ward.

So my advise is this - take every opportunity to run the ward by the end of a placement. Not only do you gain confidence, but you are able to consolidate how everything works in the big picture.