Junior Doctor Toolkit

Junior Doctor Toolkit:

On this page you will find various useful information that should help make life easy as a Junior Doctor.

Must Have Apps.
Speciality based resources: Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gyanecology, Ears, Nose and Throat.
Hospital Etiquette.

1)Must Have Apps:

We live in an age which is full of apps to make our day to day lives easier. So why not make being a doctor easier too. This page contains some of the useful apps and links that we use on a daily basis.

The top two that we use regularly and we would say are a must, even if you have phone memory issues are the Electronic BNF and Induction.

Download the BNF onto your phone – often times you will be asked to prescribe drugs at short notice , some you may have never heard of or don’t know the dose
Download the induction app - this will save you more time than you can imagine. Often times you find you need to bleep someone and you don’t know their number, this will reduce the amount of time you spend waiting on the phone to switchboard

2)Speciality based resources:

Paediatrics:

1) The Bilirubin checker app.

https://www.rcog.org.uk/en/guidelines-research-services/guidelines/rcog-bilichecker-app/

Have you ever been the doctor who has the joy of plotting the bilirubin graph in the early hours of the morning and you finally finish plotting it and your scratch your head and wonder. Did I actually do that correctly?. We are not entirely sure how long it has been around for , however the last time I was on paediatrics the midwives would whip out this app to help check that the graph was correct. I am old fashioned, however the app's answer would mostly be the same as mine. So if you are looking for a bilirubin companion on those long nights when your the graph plotter. This could help you double check yourself.

2) Paediatrics for Primary Care (and anyone else).

http://gppaedstips.blogspot.com

We came across this website on Twitter and we wondered why we had not managed to find it when we did our GP rotation. When you do your first GP rotation as a doctor and you are faced with the prospect of dealing with children and managing their conditions it can be daunting. This is because the Paeadiatric experience at medical school is often brief. It is not second nature like Adult medicine. The website has useful pictures and advice to help structure your thinking. On the left hand side of the website the articles are usefully labelled, enabling you to find the information quickly. This website does not replace you asking your trainer. However if does help you come to terms with how and why your trainer came to their suggestion or management plan. No one likes the feeling of doing things blindly.

Obstetrics and Gynaecology:

1)Green TOP guidelines:

https://www.rcog.org.uk/en/guidelines-research-services/guidelines/rcog-guidelines-app/

You can't do Obstetrics and Gynaecology without knowing about the Green-top guidelines. These guidelines are detailed and give you an overview of how common conditions in this field should be managed. In addition to that, you know longer need to trawl through the pdf's at a computer and you can now download the app( great for when your on the move) and even make notes within the app.

Ears, Nose and Throat:

Entsho.com: https://entsho.com.

We both really enjoyed using this website and app when we were on our ENT rotation .It is not a substitute for asking for advice from your Registrar however it is simple,concise and recommends common sense things you would not have thought of unless you had done ENT before.

3)Hospital Etiquette:

Five Top tips to dealing with an On Call as Junior Doctor:

1) Prepare all the meals you will need for your on call the night before. Include some snacks also. The issues with on calls as a Junior is that they are unpredictable. Some can be very quiet and others can be so busy, you are not even sure you have time to eat, drink or even wee. You have to take care of yourself when doing on calls, therefore if you have your easy ready made lunch and snacks, even if time is pushed you won't waste most of your precious break queuing up for food in the canteen. You must have a refillable bottle as it's really easy to get dehydrated on call.

A tired, hungry doctor makes mistakes.

Supertip: If you are someone who still likes carrying those clipboard files that form a box you could put two kid size packs of haribo for when that wave of hypoglyacaemia hits.

2) Make yourself a job list and prioritise the list as the day goes on. For example: Emergencies that have to be attended to now. Non emergency things that are important but can be done later. It is also useful to think about what you can delegate to others, you are one person. It would be great if you did everything , but the reality is that you can't.

3) Plan ahead and make use of the lulls in the day. For example updating the ward list and requesting bloods for phelbotomy when things are less busy.Making a start on the discharge letters for those who you know will be going home , especially for those patients who have been on the ward for a long time.

4) Be effecient. if you get a phone call from a ward in regards to a job for one of your patients and you know you have a few others on the ward. Ask the nurses to ask their colleagues if they have any concerns or any other jobs doing for the other patients on the ward. Some would say this is creating work for yourself. However there is nothing worse than walking to the other end of the hospital to do one job on the ward. Walking back to the office and getting a bleep from the same ward in regards to a job regarding a different patient , which you could have sorted whilst there if you had known.

5) Be realistic about the time frame you need to do something. This is helpful when you get several bleeps within a short space of time. As you answer, let them know what the current situation is , this reduces the chance of getting relentless bleeps from the same ward because they don't know when your coming. Sometimes it is even helpful to let know a time to bleep you back by if you haven't appeared.Communication on calls is everything. If you communicate well it keeps everyone in the loop and reduces the chances of colleagues getting angry at you.It also reduces your stress levels.

Making a referral to a colleague/speciality:

The golden rule here is preparation. Try to be near the patient i.e on the same ward as the patient when you call, reason being the person you are calling might ask for an examination finding that is not already listed, or have a question that only the patient can answer (It is really awkward when you have to confess you are on the other side of the hospital and have to run to the ward in order to answer the question).

Things you should have in front of you include :

Patients up to date drug chart (have a quick read through what is on there and have some idea why they are taking the medication, if it is antibiotics and you are calling microbiology , know how long they have been on them for and what you are treating for)
Patients observation chart - with a recent set of observations on them.
Outcome of the most recent ward round and have a good understanding of why you are referring/questions you are seeking to be answered.
Patient record open on the computer ,along with recent bloods and investigation results.
Have a basic idea of the patients overall presentation.
Finally it is obvious but be polite!!.