I remember my one try at doing a weekend locum to help out the understaffed Masterton Hospital in 2016. It was horrific. Some bored local teens decided to get drunk and then drive around really fast, and it ended about as badly as you might expect. The two boys who made it to hospital had unsurvivable injuries but the fact remains they were alive when they arrived shortly after midnight, and they were both dead a few hours later. I\u2019ve spent the last two decades working in a tertiary hospital, where you\u2019d have multiple experts turn up to every trauma call, and my job would only ever be as part of that team – with multiple doctors per patient. That time it was me looking after two, not only being in charge but also having to do all the technical stuff because there wasn\u2019t anyone else except two junior house surgeons, until the locum surgeon turned up anyway. Awful. Hats off to anyone who works in a small regional hospital. I guess right now, all across the world there are multiple medical staff having the exact same experience. Fingers crossed the lockdown works for us and I (we) don\u2019t have to go through that again.<\/p>\n
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From:<\/span><\/strong> Kirsty Jordan <\/p>\n Hi All,<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Some of you may know I worked in Masterton last weekend, doing a locum at Wairarapa Hospital. I chose a particularly unfortunate weekend to do it and had a quite challenging time. But, I finished the weekend with a survival rate of 60% amongst the patients I looked after*, which is a pass in anyone\u2019s book. The best CME I\u2019ve ever done, to be honest, and I was very impressed with the Hospital and the staff, so don\u2019t be put off by my experience.<\/span><\/p>\n Monday<\/span><\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Another STAT, don\u2019t you just love this time of year?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tuesday<\/span><\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Two children on the MRI list that must be first according to their surgical alerts. Colin thinks he should do the child that is chained to their assistance dog first, and I\u2019m inclined to agree.<\/span><\/p>\n Wednesday<\/span><\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A welcome return to Rachel (new mother of twins), doing half days today and tomorrow to get the new nanny settled in. Should give her a lovely chance to relax back here at work, where you\u2019re only expected to do one thing at a time.<\/span><\/p>\n Thursday<\/span><\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The part 2 candidates are learning about stats today. What are the chances of that?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Friday<\/span><\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The ophthalmology team have asked for a paeds anaesthetist, and they promise me that they really mean it this time.<\/span><\/p>\n There\u2019s also a new orthopod floating around, not sure if he\u2019s already been working? His name is Hans Lundberg and he is out at Kene today. I have an inkling that he is German, but don\u2019t quote me.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cheers,<\/span><\/p>\n Kirsty.<\/span><\/p>\n *I anaesthetised three other people that weekend, who all did very well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I remember my one try at doing a weekend locum to help out the understaffed Masterton Hospital in 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8Ukf-1aK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9996,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/19\/bookish\/","url_meta":{"origin":4510,"position":0},"title":"Bookish","author":"Interloper11","date":"April 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"There\u2019s a new locum surgeon starting at my hospital, and I heard on the grapevine this week that he writes books. 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Unfortunately she kept confusing my name with another student,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12526,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/05\/conflicted-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4510,"position":2},"title":"Conflicted","author":"Interloper11","date":"January 5, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Do you remember me mentioning an autobiographical book written by a surgical colleague last year, that mentioned a traumatic weekend we both spent doing a locum at a small regional hospital? 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It came out over the course of the day that in 2020, she weighed 60 kgs, which was astounding as these days she\u2019d be almost twice that. She\u2019s significantly shorter than\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13055,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/03\/back-to-reality-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4510,"position":5},"title":"Back to reality","author":"Interloper11","date":"July 3, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"We\u2019re short at work this week, so I\u2019m doing a neurosurgical list as a locum today. I had a vested interest because it was my schedule this week and otherwise we would have had to cancel something. Plus, I\u2019m getting paid. 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\nSent:<\/strong> Thursday, 4 February 2016 4:29 PM
\nTo:<\/strong> Wellington Anaesthesia All Staff
\nSubject:<\/strong> Trauma<\/span><\/p>\n