Here is some updated information about my practice.
I’ll be away from the practice from 3rd to 10th of March. During that time the answering service will still take messages for me, and I can contact you back when I return.
If you will be due for medical certificates or repeats of medication during that time, please would you contact me soon, so that I can see you before I leave.
The doctors at Edgeware Promed are happy to see people who need to be seen before I get back. Their hours are Monday-Friday 8-6 and Saturday 9-1. They are a drop in clinic so they don't take appointments, but their phone number is 3791112.
They are quite close to my practice. To get there go north along Colombo Street to where it ends at Edgeware Road. Edgeware Promed is just opposite, and there is parking behind.
I am also a member of the 24 Hour Surgery, so my patients can go there at any time of the day or night.
I will be going to my medical school class reunion in Wellington. It is 40 years since we graduated! The 30 year reunion was memorable, so I am hoping I will be able to catch up with what everyone else is doing.
There are people coming from all over – at the last reunion some of my classmates included: an emergency specialist from Alaska, a mammography specialist from California, a New York orthopedic anaesthesiologist, several orthopaedic surgeons, a general practice leader from England, and a plastic surgeon from Miami, Florida. Also a Samoan orator and chief. Two of the class received New Year Honours this year.
One session will be entitled “How I changed the World”. One colleague will talk about working from two continents: he works in Minneapolis and commutes to New Zealand to do clinics. One will give a 25 year review of HIV. He has been a WHO advisor. A London obstetrician will give a 100 year historical view of obstetrics. A Mental Health leader will talk as well.
Another session will be on Non Evidence Based Medicine, and I will be talking about the Christchurch Flower Essences. It is hoped that all the members will present something. There will be a reception at Parliament, as one of our number is a Member of Parliament.
This led me to thinking about my time at medical school, and our class.
We were the last year when people had automatic entry if they had a degree, so there were people who had done arts and science degrees, and pharmacy training. At a result we were older than most other classes, and several of the boys already had families, or had children while they were students.
There was a reform in teaching after our time. We had a lot of teaching in anatomy and embryology, with hardly any clinical content. In round the bed tutorials there were 20 of us all trying to see and feel physical signs.
There were only 120 students, and 12 of them were “girls”. 10 of us went on to practice, and we hope to meet up at the reunion.
Before my final year I worked in the summer holidays as an acting house surgeon at Auckland hospital. I admitted the first patient in the Coronary Care Unit. The unit wasn’t really open then, but there was an “overflow” from the medical wards. I remember hectically busy times, working until 2-3am when we were on “acutes”, and till 9 or sometimes as late as midnight on other days to catch up on all the work.
The poor registrar had exams coming up, and didn’t get much time to study. One night a GP’s wife came in, and he made a point of admitting her himself. But it was at about 2am, and he went to sleep in the process! She was very understanding.
Then I worked at the Critical Care Unit. Usually they had only senior house surgeons, but I think they had worked out that I was reliable. There was no registrar, and one of the consultants was on holiday, so the other one came in at each change of nurses’ shifts. There had to be a doctor there all the time in case of emergencies, and someone had to relieve me when I went to lunch. I slept in a bedroom opposite a lady in an iron lung, and it clanked all night. I also remember many cockroaches! There was a theatre in the ward, and it was hurriedly cleaned out for an emergency splenectomy on one occasion.
I did my final year in Christchurch, despite its reputation for being very anti-women. At the end of the year we had interviews with the academic staff, to see if they would recommend us for employment at the Hospital. In my interview they said as I was married did I mind going to Greymouth or Ashburton. I think I said no, although I’d rather not. They quizzed me about having babies, which they thought I’d be doing as soon as I was registered. In the end there were three of us who they didn’t recommend for employment: two of us were women, and one was Samoan. But we all were employed, and all went on to do specialist training.
I have gone on so: please excuse the nostalgia. But I have had many other experiences in my profession, and might write more blogs about some of these.
I have arranged for my patients to have a discount for corporate membership at M1nt. They are upstairs at 118 Victoria Street, just down from Vic’s café.
There are two options:
With each option you will also get a free BIA (bio-impedance assessment), or a free PT (personal training) session, valued at $60.
They have an excellent personal trainer (Mike), and a very experienced nutritionist (Di), and also Pilates classes, massage therapy and reflexology.
They are a small gym, with personal service, and can cater for people of any size, shape or fitness level. There is more information at www.m1nt.co.nz.
To qualify for this discount you will need to quote your chart number in my practice. You can find that on your last receipt, or you can email me at wisbell@thelighthouse.co.nz, and I can email you back with your chart number.