The Best of Health: Tales out of Medical School

60 years ago, being a medical student entailed some hair-raising encounters in the course of training like giving a general anaesthetic without help or instruction, simply because you were the only help available; or assisting in emergency surgery when there was nobody else available. Distinguished doctors thronged the corridors of Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Long after the war there was still a vivid memory of Burma and Libya. Find out why an elderly theatre orderly hinted darkly at a doctor who got to Dunkirk four days ahead of the field hospital team . Get a new slant on the Penicillin story and read why the old NHS system in Edinburgh avoided bed blockers . Here is an account of the almost explosive expansion of hospital medicine into ICUs - cardiac arrest teams, coronary care units, positive pressure ventilation, renal dialysis, etc. It was a time of medical progress and high morale.