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Being overworked and a lot of pain is what I imagine immediately.
Original post by Anonymous1502
Question above.
From what i read, it used to be good. Doctors used to be respected and things were great.
Now, life is rubbish for them. People accuse them of being entitled when they want a fair life. The government is cutting their pay, reducing their support and adding more load on them.
Your question is pretty vague and therefore perhaps difficult to answer.
Original post by Anonymous1502
Question above.
What do you specifically want to know?
Original post by Democracy
What do you specifically want to know?
The experience what does your daily life look like for example.
Original post by Anonymous1502
The experience what does your daily life look like for example.
Depends on the day, your seniority, and the job you're on!
You could be expected to stand holding heavy retractors in theatre all day whilst a surgeon hammers away at a patient's hip.
Or you could be doing surgery all day yourself.
You could be working the 14 hour weekend shift looking after 400 patients between 2 doctors, not having time to take a drink or go to the toilet.
Or you could be sitting on a psych ward wondering what exam to revise for next as you've had no work for hours.
You could have a whole shift in A&E resus seeing the sickest patients in the hospital.
Or you could literally just do paperwork all day and not set eyes on a patient.
It depends.
Original post by saharan_skies
...a lot of pain is what I imagine immediately.
Only when opening the lidocaine, somewhat ironically.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by nexttime
Depends on the day, your seniority, and the job you're on!
You could be expected to stand holding heavy retractors in theatre all day whilst a surgeon hammers away at a patient's hip.
Or you could be doing surgery all day yourself.
You could be working the 14 hour weekend shift looking after 400 patients between 2 doctors, not having time to take a drink or go to the toilet.
Or you could be sitting on a psych ward wondering what exam to revise for next as you've had no work for hours.
You could have a whole shift in A&E resus seeing the sickest patients in the hospital.
Or you could literally just do paperwork all day and not set eyes on a patient.
It depends.
Only when opening the lidocaine, somewhat ironically.
You could be expected to stand holding heavy retractors in theatre all day whilst a surgeon hammers away at a patient's hip.
Or you could be doing surgery all day yourself.
You could be working the 14 hour weekend shift looking after 400 patients between 2 doctors, not having time to take a drink or go to the toilet.
Or you could be sitting on a psych ward wondering what exam to revise for next as you've had no work for hours.
You could have a whole shift in A&E resus seeing the sickest patients in the hospital.
Or you could literally just do paperwork all day and not set eyes on a patient.
It depends.
Only when opening the lidocaine, somewhat ironically.
I know it differs I wanted individual answers if the days differs that could be mentioned I just wanted to see how experience differs from person to person or whether it is quite similar.Are you a doctor by any chance?
Original post by Anonymous1502
The experience what does your daily life look like for example.
It really depends on your stage of training and the specialty you're working in. During FY1, my days were mostly spent writing the notes on the ward round, making phone calls and referrals, chasing and requesting investigations, writing discharge summaries, taking blood and other practical procedures, talking to relatives, and reviewing any patients who became acutely unwell on the ward e.g. having a temperature, chest pain, low blood sugar, seizures, etc.
Being on call at night either meant admitting new patients to the acute medical unit (fun, interesting) or covering the existing inpatients (more stressful).
Hours are variable. An on call shift is 12.5 hours long. A normal day on medicine is supposedly 9-5, but in reality we were there any time until 8 PM (happened once on a particularly awful day), but probably finishing at 6:30 PM on average. Surgery was a bit more civilised, and generally you could leave on time.
As an SHO the day to day timetable is similarly variable, and it heavily depends on the specialty you work in. I work in a surgical specialty at the moment, so there's far less to do in terms of referrals, phone calls etc, so actually I get to do quite a lot of clinical work like admitting emergency patients, going to clinic, assisting in theatres and so on.
Conversely, colleagues of mine working on overstretched medical wards are still doing the exact same jobs as when they were FY1s i.e. mostly organisational admin jobs, which is obviously not great.
But in terms of what each day is like, well that really depends on what I'm scheduled to be doing on that particular day. Holding retractors in theatres for hours and hours is neither interesting nor particularly educational in my opinion but you still have to grit your teeth and do it without looking obviously bored. On the other hand, being the first person to admit an emergency patient, thinking about what might be causing their symptoms, coming up with a management plan, discussing it with a senior and learning something along the way is definitely one of those "this is why I'm glad I became a doctor" moments.
Basically: don't expect the training system to be perfect and try and take the long view would be my tips for staying happy.
Original post by Anonymous1502
Question above.
In addition to the above replies, read this:
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor
Original post by Doonesbury
In addition to the above replies, read this:
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor
Wow - 146/147 reviews are 5*.
Original post by nexttime
Wow - 146/147 reviews are 5*.
I must confess I haven't read it, but the press reviews look good.
Original post by Democracy
It really depends on your stage of training and the specialty you're working in. During FY1, my days were mostly spent writing the notes on the ward round, making phone calls and referrals, chasing and requesting investigations, writing discharge summaries, taking blood and other practical procedures, talking to relatives, and reviewing any patients who became acutely unwell on the ward e.g. having a temperature, chest pain, low blood sugar, seizures, etc.
Being on call at night either meant admitting new patients to the acute medical unit (fun, interesting) or covering the existing inpatients (more stressful).
Hours are variable. An on call shift is 12.5 hours long. A normal day on medicine is supposedly 9-5, but in reality we were there any time until 8 PM (happened once on a particularly awful day), but probably finishing at 6:30 PM on average. Surgery was a bit more civilised, and generally you could leave on time.
As an SHO the day to day timetable is similarly variable, and it heavily depends on the specialty you work in. I work in a surgical specialty at the moment, so there's far less to do in terms of referrals, phone calls etc, so actually I get to do quite a lot of clinical work like admitting emergency patients, going to clinic, assisting in theatres and so on.
Conversely, colleagues of mine working on overstretched medical wards are still doing the exact same jobs as when they were FY1s i.e. mostly organisational admin jobs, which is obviously not great.
But in terms of what each day is like, well that really depends on what I'm scheduled to be doing on that particular day. Holding retractors in theatres for hours and hours is neither interesting nor particularly educational in my opinion but you still have to grit your teeth and do it without looking obviously bored. On the other hand, being the first person to admit an emergency patient, thinking about what might be causing their symptoms, coming up with a management plan, discussing it with a senior and learning something along the way is definitely one of those "this is why I'm glad I became a doctor" moments.
Basically: don't expect the training system to be perfect and try and take the long view would be my tips for staying happy.
Being on call at night either meant admitting new patients to the acute medical unit (fun, interesting) or covering the existing inpatients (more stressful).
Hours are variable. An on call shift is 12.5 hours long. A normal day on medicine is supposedly 9-5, but in reality we were there any time until 8 PM (happened once on a particularly awful day), but probably finishing at 6:30 PM on average. Surgery was a bit more civilised, and generally you could leave on time.
As an SHO the day to day timetable is similarly variable, and it heavily depends on the specialty you work in. I work in a surgical specialty at the moment, so there's far less to do in terms of referrals, phone calls etc, so actually I get to do quite a lot of clinical work like admitting emergency patients, going to clinic, assisting in theatres and so on.
Conversely, colleagues of mine working on overstretched medical wards are still doing the exact same jobs as when they were FY1s i.e. mostly organisational admin jobs, which is obviously not great.
But in terms of what each day is like, well that really depends on what I'm scheduled to be doing on that particular day. Holding retractors in theatres for hours and hours is neither interesting nor particularly educational in my opinion but you still have to grit your teeth and do it without looking obviously bored. On the other hand, being the first person to admit an emergency patient, thinking about what might be causing their symptoms, coming up with a management plan, discussing it with a senior and learning something along the way is definitely one of those "this is why I'm glad I became a doctor" moments.
Basically: don't expect the training system to be perfect and try and take the long view would be my tips for staying happy.
Do you participate in the operation or can you just watch?Also did you do an anesthesiology or a cardiology or an emergency rotation if so what is it like?
Original post by nexttime
Depends on the day, your seniority, and the job you're on!
You could be expected to stand holding heavy retractors in theatre all day whilst a surgeon hammers away at a patient's hip.
Or you could be doing surgery all day yourself.
You could be working the 14 hour weekend shift looking after 400 patients between 2 doctors, not having time to take a drink or go to the toilet.
Or you could be sitting on a psych ward wondering what exam to revise for next as you've had no work for hours.
You could have a whole shift in A&E resus seeing the sickest patients in the hospital.
Or you could literally just do paperwork all day and not set eyes on a patient.
It depends.
Only when opening the lidocaine, somewhat ironically.
You could be expected to stand holding heavy retractors in theatre all day whilst a surgeon hammers away at a patient's hip.
Or you could be doing surgery all day yourself.
You could be working the 14 hour weekend shift looking after 400 patients between 2 doctors, not having time to take a drink or go to the toilet.
Or you could be sitting on a psych ward wondering what exam to revise for next as you've had no work for hours.
You could have a whole shift in A&E resus seeing the sickest patients in the hospital.
Or you could literally just do paperwork all day and not set eyes on a patient.
It depends.
Only when opening the lidocaine, somewhat ironically.
Did you do a psychiatry rotation?If so what do you make of the treatments? It feels like psychiatry really changed a lot in the last 30 years.It is the impression I got after watching a documentary on mental asylums which were closed like 30-40 years ago.Correct me if I am wrong.
Original post by Anonymous1502
Do you participate in the operation or can you just watch?Also did you do an anesthesiology or a cardiology or an emergency rotation if so what is it like?
As an FY1/FY2, your participation goes as far as holding retractors and snipping sutures i.e. nothing particularly exciting. If you're very keen and hoping to specialise in a branch of surgery, you might be able to persuade your seniors to let you do a bit more (e.g. suturing). That's been my experience so far, but I'm not looking to specialise in surgery so I haven't exactly been seeking out extra theatre opportunities.
If you enter surgical specialty training, then yeah, you'll go on surgical skills courses, do surgical exams, and they will train you to start performing operations.
I did an anaesthetics job during FY1 and it was really good - minimal paperwork, very hands on, and anaesthetists are very friendly people and excellent teachers.
Original post by Anonymous1502
Do you participate in the operation or can you just watch?Also did you do an anesthesiology or a cardiology or an emergency rotation if so what is it like?
As 'junior doctor' refers to both people who are 1 day out of medical schools and people who have been working as a doctor for 10 years, again: it depends.
You will not be doing more than holding retractors, putting on drapes in your fist year, but i do know very keen people willing to dump ward work on others and spend lots of time in theatre who have got to the point where they are doing every step of an appendectomy in their second year. Surgery is not particularly difficult, generally speaking. Its knowing what to do when things go wrong where the leaning lies.
More senior "junior" doctors will be performing complex operations alone.
Original post by Anonymous1502
Did you do a psychiatry rotation?If so what do you make of the treatments? It feels like psychiatry really changed a lot in the last 30 years.It is the impression I got after watching a documentary on mental asylums which were closed like 30-40 years ago.Correct me if I am wrong.
I did. The big change in the last 30 years is probably the number of patients treated as outpatients. Only those that are a danger to themselves or others should be on a psych ward these days.
Treatments still generally take a long time to work - perhaps a reason why its such an unpopular speciality despite workloads a fraction that of say medical specialities.
Original post by Democracy
As an FY1/FY2, your participation goes as far as holding retractors and snipping sutures i.e. nothing particularly exciting. If you're very keen and hoping to specialise in a branch of surgery, you might be able to persuade your seniors to let you do a bit more (e.g. suturing). That's been my experience so far, but I'm not looking to specialise in surgery so I haven't exactly been seeking out extra theatre opportunities.
If you enter surgical specialty training, then yeah, you'll go on surgical skills courses, do surgical exams, and they will train you to start performing operations.
I did an anaesthetics job during FY1 and it was really good - minimal paperwork, very hands on, and anaesthetists are very friendly people and excellent teachers.
If you enter surgical specialty training, then yeah, you'll go on surgical skills courses, do surgical exams, and they will train you to start performing operations.
I did an anaesthetics job during FY1 and it was really good - minimal paperwork, very hands on, and anaesthetists are very friendly people and excellent teachers.
Can you tell me what being an anaesthesiaologist is like?What is it that they have to do except of course administer general aneaesthetic ?What do you mean by hands on?
Original post by Anonymous1502
Can you tell me what being an anaesthesiaologist is like?What is it that they have to do except of course administer general aneaesthetic ?What do you mean by hands on?
@Helenia would be better placed to give you a reply about what being an anaesthetist is like.
As a general comment, anaesthetists work in lots of different areas: A&E, the hospital crash team which goes to emergencies such as cardiac arrests, theatres, maternity, ITU, pain clinics and so on.
By hands on I mean that there are lots of practical procedures e.g. cannulation, intubation, arterial lines etc and there was actually time for teaching and learning. Some specialties are far less interested/able to teach you when you've just started so basically you end up being the paperwork dogsbody for the four months that you're there.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by Anonymous1502
Can you tell me what being an anaesthesiaologist is like?What is it that they have to do except of course administer general aneaesthetic ?What do you mean by hands on?
*Anaesthetist (in the UK)
By "hands on" I think he means you spend the majority of your time with patients doing practical tasks directly related to their care, rather than (as in many specialties) doing lots of admin, ordering tests/referrals and generally running around the hospital
I'm an anaesthetics registrar. You are right that the majority of the job is giving anaesthetics, but it's far more than just whacking in some drugs and going off for coffee.
We see all the patients before their operation, assess their general health and suitability for anaesthesia/surgery, and plan how to do it safely. We discuss risks and benefits of various options with the patient if needed. The majority of cases will be done under general anaesthesia, so we put them to sleep, secure their airway and ventilation, (and there are many ways to do all of these things, tailored to the patient's/surgeon's needs!) bring them into theatre and put them on the table before the surgeons can start. We then have to stay with them through the op, making sure they are stable and comfortable, and wake them up safely at the end. Yes, a lot of the time is "just sitting there," but you have to be prepared for anything at any moment.
As well as this, a significant minority of cases are done under some kind of regional anaesthesia like a spinal injection or a nerve block, which we deliver, and still need to provide the usual monitoring and stabilisation afterwards. There is a huge variety of cases we could be doing - 80 year olds for hip replacement one day, 5 year olds for dental work the next - and obviously it's not a one-size-fits-all anaesthetic!
Outside of theatres, we play a big role in labour ward, siting epidurals, giving anaesthetics (>95% spinal/epidural, very few GAs in obstetrics) for theatre cases like Caesareans, and helping the obstetricians manage their most unwell patients and any emergencies. Many anaesthetists also work in intensive care (I do as part of my on-call duties but am not dual training so won't be an intensive care consultant), we carry almost every emergency bleep in the hospital so will go to cardiac arrests, traumas, paediatric problems, some train in pre-hospital medicine so go out with air ambulances to major trauma etc, and some run either acute or chronic pain services.
It's a very technical, practical job but I love it, there's lots of patient contact but so much less admin and faff, and you get to make a real difference. It's very well supported - as a trainee you spend a large amount of time 1:1 with consultants - and in the day job at least there's usually time for coffee and lunch! There is still a significant antisocial hours commitment, as we have to cover emergency theatres, ICU and labour ward 24/7, but in general the workload is manageable. I don't regret choosing it at all!
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