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Reflective Report

Throughout a six-week anaesthesiology posting, the student gained a better understanding of the role of anaesthesiologists, which involves more than just providing anaesthesia before surgery. They serve as patient advocates and often diagnose and treat medical issues before, during, and after surgery. In the operating theatre, anaesthesiologists and surgeons work closely together as a team, with everyone playing an important role to ensure appropriate patient care. The student also realized discrepancies between medical school teachings and real clinical practice. Many healthcare workers overlook patient safety due to factors like workload, despite its importance. Adhering to procedures like asking about drug allergies can prevent issues. In another incident, a patient was offered spinal anaesthesia as an

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Ho Yong Wai
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561 views

Reflective Report

Throughout a six-week anaesthesiology posting, the student gained a better understanding of the role of anaesthesiologists, which involves more than just providing anaesthesia before surgery. They serve as patient advocates and often diagnose and treat medical issues before, during, and after surgery. In the operating theatre, anaesthesiologists and surgeons work closely together as a team, with everyone playing an important role to ensure appropriate patient care. The student also realized discrepancies between medical school teachings and real clinical practice. Many healthcare workers overlook patient safety due to factors like workload, despite its importance. Adhering to procedures like asking about drug allergies can prevent issues. In another incident, a patient was offered spinal anaesthesia as an

Uploaded by

Ho Yong Wai
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Name : Ho Yong Wai Student ID : ME0812032414

Reflective Report - Sem 9 Anaesthesiology Posting


Throughout the six weeks of anaesthesiology posting, I have gained a much better
understanding of the role of an anaesthesiologist. Their day-to-day job involves more than
just providing anaesthesia to patients before surgery. In fact, anaesthesiologists serve as the
patients advocate and typically are the first to diagnose and treat medical problems or
complications that may arise before, during and after surgery. In the operation theatre, one
can observe how both surgeons and anaesthesiologists often work hand in hand and that there
is no such thing as one-man show. Suffice to say, every member of the healthcare team has
their own role to play in ensuring that the most appropriate care is delivered to all patients. In
other words, the importance of teamwork and leadership skills cannot be overemphasized.
Besides that, I also realize there are indeed discrepancies between what is taught in medical
school and the way medicine is practiced in the real clinical setting. Much has been said and
written about the issue of patient safety. Nevertheless, I find that many of the healthcare
workers tend to overlook the importance of patient safety due to various factors such as
heavy workload and lack of awareness. For instance, during a pre-operative assessment in the
clinic, a doctor had forgotten to ask the patient whether he has any drug allergy or is taking
any over-the-counter / traditional medications. Imagine what could happen if the patient
suddenly developed an allergic reaction to one of the drugs prescribed by the doctor. In my
opinion, it is the responsibility of every doctor or nurse to ensure that patient safety is not
compromised by adhering to the six Rights in drug administration - Right patient , Right
drug , Right dose , Right time , Right route and Right documentation.
In another incident, a patient (Mr.A) was electively admitted for herniorraphy and prior to his
surgery, one of the anaesthetists explained to him regarding the risks of anaesthesia. Mr.A,
however, was not very keen on the idea of being put to sleep via general anaesthesia.
Therefore, he was offered spinal anaesthesia as an alternative. This, I feel, is in accordance
with the principle of autonomy - Hence; the attending physician should respect the patients
right to refuse any form of treatment or procedure while acting in the best interest of the
patient. Another thing to be learned from this incident is that obtaining an informed consent is
not only a legal act, but also an ethical obligation.

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