Start the countdown!

Apologies again for the blogging silence. Final exams for the pre-clinical phase of my course start in less than a month. This week our hospital tutor led us onto the ward where he had managed to procure 5 very gracious and patient patients!

"Here you go - 1 patient each - Do ALL the examinations"

That means these patients obliged whilst for our own education and practice we carried out-

• A general examination of their hands, face and neck
• A cardiovascular exam
• A respiratory system exam
• An abdominal exam
• A thyroid exam
• An exam of all their joints 
• A neurological exam (both of the limbs and all the cranial nerves)
• Thankfully for them and us not a rectal exam though!

Any other willing volunteers? Free healthcheck!

If we were done too fast our consultant proceeded to grill us on what we might have missed. Thankfully I noticed one of my patient's most obvious symptoms - he had a missing finger on his right hand from his previous occupation as a butcher!