Episode two in the series follows trainee surgeons Anita Mohan, Smitesh Patel, Onur Gilleard, Rosie Johns on one of the most competitive surgical training programmes in the world.
Out of the 110 trainees on the course, 26 year old Onur Gilleard is one of the very top students. He’s in the Accident and Emergency department at Hammersmith Hospital and is having to make critical decisions when he gets an urgent call. A woman who is 15 weeks pregnant has had a pain in her side for several days and Onur’s instinct is that she may have appendicitis. If he’s right, she will need an urgent operation, but it’s difficult to diagnose and general anaesthetic is a serious risk for both mother and baby.
His advanced diagnosis was correct and following the operation, Onur says: “She did have appendicitis, the appendix was quite clearly inflamed, taken it out and now she’s better, and, you know, it’s a huge relief for her, it’s a huge relief for us, the baby’s doing fine, so it’s a perfect result.”
Smitesh Patel has just started in the orthopaedic department fixing broken bones. Like all of the students he’s trying hard to get to do an operation on his own, but as part of a large surgical team, it’s often more senior trainees who get the chance to operate. He’s invited to a hip operation, but the senior trainees are given the chance to operate and by the end of the procedure, Smitesh has done nothing but watch. He says: “There’s a hierarchy in your training and rightly so, the further along you are the more that you’ll get to do more complex procedures.”
Eventually, he’s given the opportunity to do an operation on his own; removing metal pins which held a broken arm together while it healed. He completes the whole operation without help and receives praise from his consultant for making it look straightforward and easy. This valuable operating experience has put him back on track to pass the year.
Anita Mohan has her sights
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