Feature


JAP  Volume 7 Issue 1


and the ones who everyone in the hospital will call when the metaphorical hits the fan. As days went by, the appeal of anaesthetics deepened. The trainees


and consultants seemed to work more coherently. I noted the trainees were in theatre daily, whereas as a surgeon, I could only be there once a week. The trainees were giving the anaesthetic independently and doing the entire case themselves with distant supervision. They seemed to be independent practitioners. This was


something one could only dream of in Surgery. The work itself was manageable and enjoyable. There were also the extremes, with occasional acute, life-threatening situations contrasted by calm elective lists when the anaesthetists sat quietly and passed the day by anaesthetising ASA 1 cases. I had entered a world on a false pretence, but was fast being


converted into a true gasser. The appeal was tremendous. I had crossed the ‘Blood-Brain Barrier’. Here, I was on the other side of the blue curtain affectionately known as the blood-brain barrier – the surgeons being the blood and the anaesthetists being the brain. Now I could be the hero, like I always wanted to be. With anaesthetics came true understanding of the human physiology, a desire to excel and to do right by the patient, an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction and the career prospects that I’d always aspired to. I had the ability, knowledge and skills to independently anaesthetise my patients, applying physiology and pharmacology to the practical skills only enviable to the junior surgeon. It shouldn’t be said, but anaesthetics was also perfect for me as a woman. I returned home at a sensible hour and enjoyed my life outside of work far more now, as I wasn’t always buried in the fight and I wasn’t always too knackered to function.


Fate and future I ultimately gave in and accepted my fate. Anaesthetics was


ideal for me. I loved it. It was a dream to be elite, to be a hero, to go where no-one would dare, all in a milieu of pleasantness. Pastoral support was ever-present and the work came smoothly. The programme was educationally focussed and provided for on every level. It was learning, progressing and developing at a rapid pace, without the total back-bending strain of surgery. Surgical training involved an inevitable, invariable fight with other


trainees to get into theatre first and therefore be allowed to scrub up and assist with the operation. It was long hours of early ward


rounds, checking all the patients before the consultant ward round, two clinics per day, chasing the houseman for tests and results, negotiating the radiology services to do the scan requested, the tussle to get into emergency theatre after hours all followed by a late night ward round to round off the events of the day. On the non clinical side, surgical training incorporated the search


for research opportunities, audit development and the writing of studies for publications. Anaesthesia, in contrast, was a scene of normal working hours,


full days in theatre with direct consultant teaching and actually delivering a service. It was a wonder of variety, skill, knowledge, practical skills and humour. There was no going back. I returned to my old vigour; I sat the


exams, did courses and actually enjoyed the voyage. It was no longer an eternal tussle. Without obstruction, I passed exams and obtained a post in specialty registrar training in London and in the region of my choice. Looking back at the end of my SHO years, I had ‘done’ more


appendectomies than my senior registrar colleague. I had baked my cake and now I could sit and eat it with a glass of merlot, if I felt like it.


Now, all that was to be considered was the Lansley white paper, the changes under Mr Hunt, the introduction of specialty nurses, semi-privatisation, the prospect of the sub-consultant grade and consultant job availability itself. ■


JAP 2013: 1: 22-23


Dr Seetal Patel Dr Seetal Patel is an ST4


Anaesthetic Trainee at the North Central School of Anaesthesia, London. Her professional interests lie in cardiovascular exercise


physiology but outside of work she is keen on experimental cookery from everywhere around the world. If she’s not trying out the local cuisines on her travels, she’ll be perusing art galleries and sampling the goods at focus festivals and markets.


www.japractice.com 23


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