My clinical year ahead...

Happy belated New Year to everyone! Haven't got any resolutions for this year - I just want some peace and quiet (haha I sound like Oscar the Grouch!)...

So, as everyone who has been through med school is aware, I finally start my clinical placements this year! Woot! My placements will be in a variety of settings but my home base where the majority of my rotations will take place is a busy secondary hospital in one of Sydney's (many!) multicultural communities. It was my first preference hospital, as I come from a similar part of the world as the predominant ethnic group in that community (and speak the same language --> no need for an interpreter!). The other settings that I'll be working in is a specialist children's hospital for paediatrics; a mental health institute and a psych ward in a tertiary hospital for psychiatry; the same tertiary hospital for orthopedic surgery; and a medical centre in an affluent area of Sydney for my GP placement. We got sent our rosters and groups last week - I will be working with two very lovely guys, one of whom I am good friends with, the other I don't know all that well but he sent me an email when he found out that we were in the same group, saying that he was looking forward to working with me this year. As for placements, my roster is as follows (each rotation is 5 weeks long):

- Psychiatry
- Surgery 1
- General Practice
- Medicine 1
- O&G
- Surgery 2
- Paediatrics
- Medicine 2

So, I'm starting with Psych... This is one of the rotations I'm looking forward to, even though I haven't really considered it, as a career. I borrowed two books from the library yesterday to try and start answering questions for the psych short-cases that we will go through on our back-to-base theory days (which will be every Monday). I borrowed Psychiatry At a Glance as I am a big fan of the At a Glance series, particularly Medicine At a Glance and Medical Pharmacology At a Glance; and also borrowed General Practice Psychiatry, which is our core textbook for the rotation but I don't plan on purchasing it as it is quite expensive (> $100) and there are about five copies in the library (plus a couple of copies in our clinical school library).

Apart from doing some readings for Pysch before I start uni (on Friday!), I'm going to spend what's left of my holidays just relaxing, catching up with people and cleaning my room. I have work tomorrow and on Tuesday (public holiday = double pay!); I've got a Dentist's appointment on Monday to get braces because I am vain and don't like my crooked teeth; I'm finally going to go watch Avatar on Wednesday, at the Imax, with one of my best friends who has returned from overseas; and yeah, just get ready to do it all again.

Before I get going, it's been one year since I started this blog! I know it's not exciting, but I started it to vent about life and the world around me at a time when it felt like no one was listening. Things are a bit different now, but I won't forget the favour that you have done for me dear readers, you who have read and listened - thank you!

Post Script. I've decided to change my blog name to Miss Purple Stethoscope, because:
a) My name isn't really Sascha Fierce (my first name isn't even Sascha :-/), I just chose it as a random name for my blog because I'd watched an episode of Oprah the day before starting my blog and Beyonce was talking about her new album I am... Sasha Fierce and I thought it sounded cool and trendy and would therefore make my blog (and me) look/sound cool and trendy.
b) I love my purple stethoscope, it goes with all my clinical/hospital clothes! and
c) A new year should bring exciting new changes with it, like a new name, for example :-D