Joy Oguntuase, Physician Associate, General Medicine

"A typical day in the Medical assessment unit. I work in the Irish East hospital group looking after the Meath area with three other PAs. Initially I was hired as an Orthopaedic PA but due to the COVID19 pandemic I found myself working in the medical department. Each day and week is different but I love it so here is a little look into my day in the MAU.

8:30 am: Normally I arrive to work at around 8.30, clock in, get my scrubs and change. This is also an opportunity to relax with other colleagues and catch up.

9:00 am: I begin my day in MAU by greeting the nurses and other staff members. I check with the nurses to see if there’s any patients booked in for appointments or call backs. If no early appointment, I do some administration work. I follow up on patients results or discharges, check for COVID 19 swab results and contact those awaiting results.

10:30am: Patients who were referred by their GP or triaged at ED with non-respiratory symptoms start to arrive.

Each day is different in MAU. There’s always a mix of case presentations from chest pain to DVTs to headaches. Patients check in with the secretary, are reviewed by the nurse, have bloods taken and ECG performed. They are then be seen by either myself, the PA, or an SHO. After taking a detailed history and examining the patient, I write my notes on the patient and ask the SHO I’m working with to book a chest x-ray for example, if the patient came in with chest pain. While the patient is having their x-ray, I review the blood results, finish up my notes and follow up the chest x-ray findings. Depending on how busy it is, the results could take up to 2-3 hours to return. So while waiting for the results of case one, I would see another patient. Once all results are back and notes are completed, I present the case to the Medical Registrar on call (MROC), to finalise the management plan. The MROC would also see the patient and a decision is made on whether the patient requires admission, or is discharged with outpatient follow up.

13.30 pm: I normally go for lunch and see more patients after lunch. On a typical day in MAU I might see four to five patients depending on how busy the day is. 

6:30 pm: I round up seeing our patients, finish any outstanding administration work and finish work by

7:00 pm."