Skip to content

A&E Night Shift - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #16

2017-12-09 · Vlog or day in the life · Ali · recording, 4:52 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Medicine and his doctor years · mode: Demonstration and walkthrough · tags: Aimed at students

On his first-ever night shift in A&E as a Cambridge medical student, Ali sees four patients mostly by himself, then joins a resuscitation in which the patient dies; in the description he says his vlogs will not shy away from death and dying.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Arriving at the hospital for the first night shift

  • ★★ Ali starts his first-ever night shift, arriving at the hospital around 9.30pm for a 10pm start, to spend the night in A&E. — 00:00:00

00:00:33 — Halfway through the shift: four patients with chest pain, facial pain, confusion and a seizure

  • ★★ Four and a half hours into the A&E night shift Ali has seen four patients mostly by himself: he takes the history, examines them and presents each case to a doctor. — 00:00:33
  • ★★ Ali explains that chest pain in the emergency department always raises worry about a cardiac cause, so the history aims to rule out a heart attack, a pulmonary embolism and other sinister causes. — 00:00:33
  • ★★ Ali explains that patients with chest pain get a troponin blood test, because a rise in troponin probably means a myocardial infarction. — 00:01:16
  • ★★ Ali thought a woman's facial pain was sinusitis, but the doctor taught him that missing or bad teeth point to a dental abscess, and she was referred to the dentist. — 00:01:16
  • ★ Ali found the history tricky with a very confused patient, disorientated in time, place and person, probably because of a chest or urine infection. (hedged) — 00:01:16
  • ★★ Ali explains that a seizure history must find out what happened before, during and after the seizure, which was easier because a witness had come with the patient. — 00:01:16
  • ★ The seizure patient was sent home with a referral to neurology, because A&E cannot really do much about a seizure. — 00:02:05
  • ★★ Halfway through the A&E night shift Ali is enjoying it: the nurses and doctors are super nice, and with few patients and staff at night the atmosphere feels like camaraderie. — 00:02:05

00:02:44 — A cardiac arrest in resus, the resuscitation and the time of death

  • ★★★ A pale, barely conscious woman brought by ambulance went into cardiac arrest in resus; Ali put in a cannula used for fluids, then took a back seat as the resus team took over. — 00:02:44
  • ★★ After two rounds of CPR the woman in cardiac arrest had a return of spontaneous circulation and kept a pulse for a while. — 00:03:24
  • ★ Ali has heard that cardiac arrest patients fairly often rally, the body making a last-ditch effort to survive. (hedged) — 00:03:24
  • ★★★ As the woman's blood results worsened and she depended on adrenaline, the team decided unanimously that she would probably have permanent brain damage even if revived, and time of death was called. — 00:03:49
  • ★★ After the patient's death Ali says he is not sure how to feel and expects it to hit him at home, supposing that is part of being in hospital. (unsure) — 00:04:17

In the description and comments

  • ★★ Ali writes that his medical student vlogs paint an almost airbrushed picture, and with so many medicine applicants watching it seems unfair to offer only the rose-tinted view. — video description
  • ★★ Ali commits not to shy away in his vlogs from heavier issues such as death and dying, and hopes to talk about them sensitively. — video description
  • ★★ Ali writes that being part of the resus team that evening was a privilege he will never forget, and that the patient got the best possible care. — video description
  • ★★★ Ali writes that death is an unavoidable part of being a doctor and of being human, yet too often doctors fear it and avoid talking about it with patients and families. — video description
  • ★★ Ali expects to meet many more patients who will die over his career and hopes to learn from each and share some of that experience with viewers. — video description

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Only in the description or credits: University of Cambridge

← Previous: Medicine Interview Questions - How to answer "What's your biggest weakness?" · Next → How to answer Medical Ethics interview questions