It’s that time of the year when GPs surgeries and hospital A&E departments can look more like war zones than centres of healing.
Everything from festive hangover maladies – think over-indulgence in Granny Ina’s home made sherry to the fall-out felt from undercooked turkey – to winter flu and norovirus bugs make this an incredibly busy time for health professionals.
If you work in frontline medicine, the battlefield scenario won’t be lost on you.
But the good news is, amidst the chaos and calamity, your calm and caring nature will win the day.
You may even thrive in such hectic situations – for true professionals like you, this is the perfect time to show off your skills.
But before you get started, why not read our helpful guide to some of the more common winter challenges you may need to deal with?
Best foot forward
Podiatrist alert! Wearing high heels during the festive party season may well have boosted bunions, angered arthritis in the knee joints or even damaged ligaments in the legs and feet.
Nurses, look out those crutches! This is also the time of year when slippery pavements can result in involuntary dancing on ice . . . and many a poor city commuter being admitted to hospital for bumps, bruises and breaks.
Come in from the cold
When the morning trains are halted by snow on the line or the bus breaks down on the road back home the long trudge can mean catching a horrible cold or, in the most extreme cases, even frostbite or hypothermia.
GPs should always be on the lookout for the symptoms as it is perfectly possible to come a cropper in the middle of a Scottish city to conditions that are most often associated with polar explorers and mountaineers.
Not to be sniffed at
Allergies can be rife, even in the middle of winter. If you’re a doctor’s surgery manager, has your waiting room been inundated by patients whose sneezing is not actually down to colds and flu but a mystery irritant?
Could it be because they are allergic to their Christmas trees? Trees grow in cold, damp conditions and can be covered in mould spores – bring them into the warmth and these spores can trigger itchy eyes, coughs and wheezing. Bah humbug!
That’s one Christmas present you really don’t want to carry with you through January.
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