![\"Helen](\"http:\/\/www.bmj.com\/columns\/icons\/helen_barratt.jpg\")
Returning to full-time work after a year of studying has taken some getting used to. I\u2019m slowly adjusting to my Outlook calendar running my life, and learning to survive the two hour meetings which are a regular part of life in public health. Lasting the course until 17:00 on Friday is still a struggle though. Although I\u2019ve done some PCT work during my MSc holidays, I definitely got used to not having teaching every day, and I could certainly have done with some flexibility in my schedule recently, as we returned from holiday the other week to both a broken boiler and a small flood.\nNow that the honeymoon\u2019s over, as it were, I\u2019ve been left reflecting on my decision a year ago to leave the wards. What do I miss? I suppose I miss the challenge of a complex patient, trying to elucidate their diagnosis, but I don\u2019t remember this happening all that often in reality, amongst the chest pains and UTIs. I also miss the camaraderie of working with a close-knit team, which I enjoyed on many hospital jobs. Public health involves big teams, but the day to day work is actually quite solitary. I also quietly confess to missing the regular supply of free stationery from drug reps, albeit branded \u2013 I actually had to go out and buy a packet of post-it notes the other week.<\/p>\n