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@dresmerelda

ID/Micro Academic Doctor & Smiley-faced lover of purple

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Category: Healthy Living

Time (or in reality ‘Me’) Management

November 27, 2017November 27, 2017Leave a comment

I'm pleased to say that I've managed to achieve a fair bit so far in my career while being utterly useless at time. How? Read on...

Rejection and the ‘Science’ of Recovery

August 1, 2017August 1, 2017Leave a comment

Thinking positively isn't always that easy. Here I discuss how I learnt self confidence and coping strategies for a healthier mind.

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Healthy Living
Infectious Diseases/Micro & Global Health
Medicine
Research
Travel

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I’ve got myself a new job with an incorporated PhD!!!! 🙌😄 • In a project funded by @gatesfoundation we’ll be collecting data from tropical countries with the aim of ultimately creating a rapid diagnostic test to diagnose patients presenting with fevers ?cause 😱 • I’m SO excited, slightly nervous and also a little sad to be leaving my current team and ‘home’ for a bit. But this is SUCH an amazing opportunity and I’ll get to travel, learn bioinformatics and be involved in project management. Whoop whoop!! (To all you coders out there, I may be picking your brains!) 😅 • Wish me luck!!! 💪 • #womeninscience #womeninmedicine #globalhealth #tropicalmedicine #bioinformatics #coding #medicine #infection #infectiousdiseases #research #phd #microbiology #labcoat #vintagestyle #excited #lovemyjob #academia #science #medic #medscilife #newopportunities #wanderlust #travel #instascience #womeninstem #womeninresearch #workwednesday #showyourstethoscope #happydoctors #funtimesahead😎

Awesome to be back in the lab, learning from our brilliant BMSs 😁 • (A cursory explanation of my relative Insta distance will be given in the coming weeks but suffice it to say that this year has been TOUGH but all’s well that is ending well... 💪including some exciting news... 😁👍😁 Watch this space lovely people ☺️) 💕 • #inthelab #work #lovemyjob #research #academia #infectionmedicine #microbelove #microbiology #agar #platereading #chromogenic #labcoat #science #biology #medicine #backbaby #purplehair #scicommcommunity #biomedicalscience #womeninmedicine #womeninscience #womeninacademia #doctorslife #happydoctors

Poster presentation on a weird Group A Strep? ✅ With lots of thanks to Phillipa who was the real driving force behind this poster ❤️ • #mondaymotivation #science #scicomm #research #conference #infectiousdisease #microbiology #microbiologia #doctorslife #academia #medicine #patientsafety #posters #purplehair #vintagestyle #medic #academic #happydoctors #lovemicrobes #lovemyjob #mondaymood #awesomecolleagues

Invasive Group A Streptococci are a major public health concern- and at the moment, there’s a lot of it in the UK! “Invasive” means they got in somewhere that should be ‘sterile’ (this is from a blood sample), and Grp A refers to a type of protein they express on their cell wall. It’s a system devised by Rebecca Lancefield who was an amazing lady and well worth reading about. The “groups” are tested with agglutination kits- smudge a bit of the bug with the kit fluid and see which one looks “bobbly” to the naked eye. Groups can help us work out how “nasty” or clinically important the bug might be, and also where it came from sometimes ☺️ • Do you know any (non invasive) infections caused by Grp As? 👇 • #womeninscience #haemolysis #agar #inthelab #microbelove #workwednesdays #humpday #ladyboss #microbiologia #microbiology #scientist #medical #physician #publichealth #infectioncontrol #sepsis #blood #bloodculture #lancefield #art #photography

We doctors perform lumbar punctures using anatomical markings, aiming for a safe space in the spine to tap the CSF. The key, as with most things in medicine, is clear communication with the patient. It’s daunting to have someone poking in your back doing a medical procedure! I always point out just how flimsy this needle is, talk to the patient throughout and teach the patients how to assume the correct position for success! Position is everything! 🌟 • Most patients tell me the thought was worse than the procedure! Do you have any tips for a successful lumbar puncture? Have you had one? 👇 • #lumbarpuncture #microbiology #motivationmonday #mondaymood #medicalmonday #microbiology #infectiousdisease #neurology #neuroscience #medic #doctorsofinstagram #doctorslife #oncall #physician #communicate #patientcare #girlboss #purplehair #purplelove #ontheward #brain #anatomy #science

In the microbiology lab, the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is stained to look for organisms (Gram stain) and placed in a counting chamber to look for (white) blood cells. Without even growing anything, the number and type of white blood cells can help us diagnose and treat brain infections! It’s all about pattern spotting and the patient history! 👩🏻‍⚕️ • CSF is also sent to the biochemistry lab. Does anyone know what that lab looks for and what it might tell us in treating infections? I’ll try to respond to any guesses 🤔 👇 • #microbiology #microbiologia #medic #cases #clinician #infectiousdisease #virology #bacteriology #scicomm #inthelab #microbemonday #mondaymotivation #followyourdreams #lovemyjob #neuroscience #pa #nursing #bms #alwayslearning #girlboss #womeninmedicine

Surrounding your brain and spinal cord is “cerebrospinal fluid” (CSF)- it’s like a bath for your brain to sit in! Your brain and spinal cord are also wrapped in 3 layers like a Christmas present- a close fitting cellophane wrap (pia mater), a fibrous tissue paper layer (arachnoid mater) and a tough ‘brown paper’ wrapping (dura mater). When a person gets meningitis, they get inflammation of these layers, through which the CSF flows. 🧠 • We can take a sample of this fluid from a patient’s back by putting a needle through these layers to where the CSF flows. And this is what it looks like: that pale yellow, barely visible fluid in those glass vials? That’s what your CSF looks like! 👩🏻‍⚕️ • In my next post, I’ll show you the lab side of what we do with that CSF. Anyone know the name of the procedure to get the CSF? 👇 • #science #infection #meningitis #diagnosis #clinical #physician #medicine #medic #medstudent #pa #nurses #bms #stethoscope #neuroscience #neurology #scicomm #learnstuff #brain #microbelife #doctorslife

Did you know there are only a few things that “win” a patient a bed on the Intensive Care Unit, and sepsis can cause many of them? 😔 • So, tell me- why do you think a patient might need specialist ICU input? What things can be done on ICU that can’t be done elsewhere in a hospital? (Answers in my stories later this week)👇 • #medicine #sepsis #infection #hospital #hospitalbed #medic #medstudent #doctorsofinstagram #doctorslife #intensivecare #microlove #patientcare #nhs #pa #nursing #health #healthcareprofessional #vintagehair #lovemyjob #womeninmedicine #physician #emergencymedicine

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