From the other side of the clipboard

I've been reading an old edition of the Student BMJ about how it can be a really positive experience to be an inpatient for a while. It made me remember how a matter of a burst appendix when I was applying to medical school was something that actually taught me a lot.

Firstly, how it's absolutely astonishing how little I felt I saw any medical person. I met the surgeon once, after the operation, for about 30 seconds. That's it! His juniors came round occasionally, not even once a day, and never asked me how I was. I felt rather abandoned! And when my cannula tissued, my hand was growing steadily bigger for a day filling with antibiotics and looked white and horribly unhealthy, and it took about 24 hours for anyone to come. I would have taken it out myself if I was an inpatient now, but then I was still scared of doctors. I hope that when I start I will try to remember that patients are scared of their disease, scared of their pain, scared of my needles, scared of my drugs, maybe even scared of me and my colleagues!