General Hospital Layout
Familiarize yourself with the hospital layout on your first day there. Know how the wards are numbered and where the outpatient clinics, staff office, (operating theatre, day surgery theatre) etc are.
Wards
General Ward Layout
Ward Desk / Equipment room
§ Case notes for reference will be placed around this area. Each of these contain a written record of the patient’s history, investigations, procedures done, treatment etc. However, try not to go through the case notes before clerking the patient, and some tutors do not like you to go through the notes of a tutorial case before the tutorial.
§ Mimms/ BHF (British Health Formulatory) – if you’re looking through the case notes and come across an unfamiliar drug or trade name, refer to Mimms or BHF for the drug information. This is good revision for your pharmacology.
§ The equipment for procedures are placed around this area, e.g. venepuncture, IV plugs etc
§ Other equipment e.g. spygnomanometer, if not at the bedside, should be found around here.
Doctor’s room
§ This is where you may ask to place your bag (some hospitals provide lockers), sit down if tired (or use the student lounge), and most importantly a place to hold tutorial discussions (some hospitals may have tutorial rooms for that purpose).
§ There are computer terminals in this room for the doctors to log on to a centralized patient database (if the hospital has it). This is a great system – doctors have access to the latest lab test results and patient records even before the physical reports are delivered to the ward, and therefore can make clinical decisions sooner. Medical students are not entitled to log-in accounts, only the friendly soft-hearted doctors have one. A pity… don’t you think?
Isolation room
§ Do not enter unless you have confirmed with the HO that the patient is safe to clerk. Check the PPE protocol with the ward staff.
Out-patient Clinics and Day surgery Operating Theatre (DSOT) – GM and GS
§ The cases you may see in the wards are acute ones (eg stroke, lung Ca, appendicitis). They are of course important.
§ The less acute, chronic and follow-up cases are equally as important (with the changing disease trends), and you do not generally see them in the wards, so make an effort to go there. You can find out the schedule for the clinics from the sister at the clinics, i.e. which specialties have clinic on which day and who are the doctors holding the clinic. You may also ask your tutor if you may join him/her for his/her clinics.
Index Overview of M3 Basics General Hospital Layout General pointers in clinical work
Main Objectives of the various postings Books Case Write-ups Presentations
On-line resources General Tips for Exams Ethics