Just a little background for a bit of context: I qualified as a doctor since June last year and started my foundation training in August 2018 in the North East of England. I am currently in the last few weeks of my general medicine rotation. My ward is unique in the sense that it's a 3-in-1 ward involving specialties of acute medicine, diabetes and endocrinology. As with medicine, every day is going to be different, so this post is really just a snapshot of how my day went today. Also note that the working hours may vary between different rotations, trusts and countries.

As the days are getting longer now, I woke up this morning at just about 6 o'clock. After breakfast and tea, I checked my mails and entertained myself with social media. Occasionally, I get to do some light reading (not medically related) if I am feeling quite keen. Then it was a short walk to the bus stand to get onto the public bus en route to the hospital.

I arrived just 15 minutes earlier at 8.45am. At 9am, we started the morning huddle where we had a concise multi-discplinary team meeting with the physiotherapists, pharmacists and nurses. We discussed about new concerns for patients, clinical progress and discharge planning. I was looking after 15 patients today, all of whom were new to me as I was based in the AMU (acute admissions unit) yesterday. I saw some of these patients with my consultant on his ward round. For the remaining stable patients, it was my duty to review them and to discuss any concerns or uncertainties with a senior colleague. This happened on a background of multiple queries by other healthcare professionals and requests by relatives for updates - all while trying to focus on one task at a time.

IT was an extremely busy day today with a number of complicated clinical issues and at least six discharges. I managed to attend a mandatory lunchtime teaching for foundation doctors. We talked about critical appraisals and quality improvement today - which was much more interesting than I had anticipated. At 2.20pm, I was back at the ward to continue reviewing the rest of my patients (still have about half left). I finished my daily reviews at about 5pm today and had to stay a little past 6pm to organise some jobs for tomorrow. 

I got home close to 7pm, had some good briyani and now enjoying my time, unwinding from work. 

It is indeed a dynamic work of constant change. You're on your feet all day - running from one place to another trying to get to different specialties or looking for a telephone. No one tells you when to take a break but I always try to - mainly because I am generally more pleasant after food. Also never underestimate what a cup of tea can do.

Tomorrow will be yet another day.