LIFE OF A DAY IN THE
TANIA LAVERDE-KONIG OPHTHALMOLOGIST
Everyday, I juggle three roles: wife, mother and ophthalmologist. My family life is hectic, to say the least. I have a busy husband who is a Consultant Surgeon, two beautiful young daughters and a mad puppy, called Boris the beagle (named after Boris Becker as I live in a house full of tennis mad people).
Although I spend most of my day working in the hospital, a lot happens before I even make it to my clinic. The day starts at 06.15 a.m. getting ready, having breakfast, making lunch boxes, and doing time tables on the journey to school, getting there by 08.00 a.m. I then have to cross town at rush hour to get to the hospital. Bizarrely, this is one of the most relaxing parts of my day as I get 25 minutes of glorious and much needed quiet time, before starting my clinic at 08:30 a.m.
Working as an eye doctor was always my dream and I can’t image myself doing any other job, even when I sometimes see the overwhelmingly long list of patients booked into my clinic! Despite being in a small island, hundreds of patients walk into the Eye Department at The Jersey General Hospital every day. Most are there for routine eye examinations but I also carry out surgery. I see patients of all ages, from infants to the elderly, with either eye emergencies or recurrent and chronic eye conditions, such as cataract, macular degeneration and glaucoma. Paediatric clinics can be challenging. Have you ever tried putting drops in your child’s eyes? Well imagine what it’s like to examine them!
It’s not just patients’ eyes that become sore from examination. Mine also do so as I use a microscope for most of my day at work. Still, it’s amazing what you can see through magnifying lenses. My role gives me a much deeper understanding of the saying that the “eyes are the window to the soul”. Not only do the eyes give us a good indication of what a person is thinking or feeling, but it’s amazing that so many systemic diseases can be diagnosed through an eye examination.
Despite my list of patients, my days are filled with nurses popping their heads round the door with new referrals from the Emergency Department, GPs, opticians and other hospital departments. With time and staffing constraints, it can feel like a constant balancing act. Our job would be almost impossible, if we didn’t have such incredible staff, not just our amazing nurses but also our secretaries and
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20/20 A day in the life of...
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