Diabetes and Endocrine induction booklet was contributed by the following;
written by Bethany Wood
reviewed by Dr Haroon Siddique
updated by Matthew Smith
Select the booklet titles below to expand the table to view more information.
Diabetes and Endocrine Team
| Consultant | Secretary | Extension | Hospital |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Dr Terence Pang |
|
3511 |
Russells Hall Hospital |
|
Dr Haroon Siddique |
Sandra Slater |
2855 |
Russells Hall Hospital |
|
Dr Alexandra Solomon |
|
3489 |
Russells Hall Hospital |
|
Dr Jane Dale |
|
3511 |
Russells Hall Hospital |
|
Dr Tamar Saeed |
Deborah Balderston |
3489 |
Russells Hall Hospital |
|
Dr Aftab Aziz |
|
|
Russells Hall Hospital |
REGISTRARS
There are typically 3 registrars – one covering the ward and referrals, the others in clinics. They cross cover to support the ward, and are always happy to help. The number of registrars posted to the diabetes unit is at the deanery’s discretion.
They have a bleep (7458) so feel free to call them for advice.
WARD STAFFING
There should be a minimum of two junior doctors covering station 1 and station 2. This includes FY1’s and SHO’s.
WARD NURSES
The nursing team on C1A are exceptional. Very friendly ward, make friends with them. Respect their seniority. They will help you out a lot if you do. Lots of them have been doing this a lot longer than you.
Diabetes nurses are excellent with helping juniors with practical procedures, good knowledge and experience.
WARD CLERKS
Carol works from the office by station 2, she will always be happy to help locate patients, put patients back onto JAC (for you to write TTOs if they have been discharged) and a huge help when it comes to finding paperwork.
Diabetes and Endocrine Ward Timetable
| Day | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
AM |
Consultant ward rounds |
Consultant ward rounds |
Consultant ward rounds |
Consultant ward rounds |
Consultant ward rounds |
|
PM |
Ward |
Ward |
Ward |
Ward |
Ward |
Most weeks are as above. Being on the on-call rota, you’ll have weeks away from the ward.
Diabetes and Endocrine Ward Rounds
Patients on the Ward
You’ll be based on C1A. C1A has two stations, each with 12 patients, though sometimes endocrine patients will go over to C1B (the renal side) whilst waiting for a bed on C1A.
PLEASE NOTE; many C1A patients are general medical patients, and get some overspill from renal (C1B)
There are two FY1s on diabetes & endocrinology, both based on the ward.
Ward Rounds
The day starts at 09:00 with the consultant-led ward round. Generally, on Mondays and Fridays the consultant will review most patients so there is a general plan for the week/weekend ahead.
From Tuesday to Thursday the consultant or the registrar will review any new, sick or complicated patients; you will split the other patients (who are stable with a plan in place, or medically fit) amongst the juniors.
Ward rounds are documented on Sunrise – you will be shown how to do this during FY1 induction. After the ward round, the rest of the day is spent doing the jobs created on the ward round. Your day finishes at 17:00.
NerveCentre
If it gets to 5 o’clock and there are still jobs to do (e.g., chasing blood results/scan reports), these can be handed over on NerveCentre. If an investigation was done quite late during the day and you’re not expecting results before 17:00, try putting it on Nerve early, as this takes time (you can always undo this if needed).
Developing your medical knowledge
You will find that each month is very different depending on which consultant is covering the ward. Each consultant has a different approach to the ward round e.g. which days they see every patient, whether they like a handover sheet being produced, how they like things being documented.
After a few days you will figure out the consultant’s style and be able to adapt your work to meet their preferences. All the endocrine consultants are very friendly and approachable if you have any questions.
As an aside, although C1A is called the ‘endocrine and diabetes’ ward, it’s rare to have an inpatient with an endocrine problem.
The ward frequently looks after patients admitted with DKA and you will become very attuned to managing these. In all, C1A is primarily a general medical ward – you will see a huge range of medical conditions on this rotation and it’s a great ward for juniors in terms of developing your medical knowledge.
Diabetes and Endocrine Meetings
Morbidity and Mortality (M+M)
M&M meetings take place every fortnight on Monday between 13:00 to 14:00. Juniors prepare a presentation about patients who died the previous month, discussing the key events of their admission and the causes of death. Presentations are saved on the shared drive (which is accessed via the ‘pathology’ account – username: pathology, password: pathology). Keep the presentation simple – only include key things like important investigations and changes in management, and decisions around treatment escalation.
Please note: An M&M template will be emailed by the consultant of the month. Cases are shared between juniors evenly. Emily Smith (emily.smith119@nhs.net) is responsible for M&M presentations.
The case notes for the presentation are in a box in the Diabetes Centre (North Block, ground floor), which you need to take to the meetings in case these need to be looked at further. Ideally find time the week before the meeting when the ward is well-staffed to prepare the presentation. Contact Emily Smith in the endocrine department and let her know when you plan on preparing the presentation – she will make sure the case notes are all out and ready for you to use. You can use one of the computers in the endocrine department to produce the presentation. Ideally, split the workload with a colleague or take it in turns producing the presentations. It can end up being quite a bit of work otherwise. The consultants will like you to present the cases at the M+M as well – these presentations are a great addition to your portfolio
Multi-disciplinary Team (MDT)
MDT meetings take place every Tuesday lunch time in the Diabetes Centre. The topics vary, but most commonly they will be Parathyroid, Adrenal or Thyroid MDT. You don’t need to prepare anything for these, just turn up. Lunch is usually provided! The MDTs are really interesting if you are keen on endocrinology – the consultants discuss complicated cases they’ve seen in clinic between themselves and sometimes with radiologists/surgeons as well.
Juniors can attend but are not expected when ward jobs are busy
Grand Rounds
Grand Rounds are every Thursday with some exceptions. You will have to ensure that you are in the mailing list to receive information about the weekly presentation. Grand rounds similarly are not compulsory when wards are busy, but juniors can log as non-core teaching hours (M&M too).
