A taste of anaesthesia

Six weeks of anaesthetics are up and I’ve had time to reflect… and boy I’ve enjoyed it! I’m not going to lie: the abundance of gases floating around has left me exhausted by the end of the day (as well as having a little bit of nausea), but every morning I rushed there out of excitement.

I feel lucky for my first student ODP experience to be in anaesthetics as it was what I was most looking forward to, but what worried me the most. I felt entirely overwhelmed for the first two weeks but by week six I felt like a valuable member of the team. Getting it ‘out if the way’, I feel, has made me settle in a lot better; there’s nothing more rewarding than facing your fears head on.

My tips for getting ahead:

• fire questions at the anaesthetists (they love to teach)
• chat to the patients (they’re just as nervous as you are)
• drink plenty of water (I swear it was the only thing keeping my head clear by Thursday afternoon)
• offer to help with any job.

I can’t wait for January when my anaesthetic placement starts; those few months are going to be a blast.