Thursday, November 24, 2011
Seniors and juniors
I ran clinic with a Professor (hereforth truncated as Pr.) on Monday; one who was notorious for attention to detail and certain other things. I was told to be exactingly punctual, so when I was 5 minutes late because I was buying a Mr Bean soya drink and pancake as lunch, I was understandably rather anxious, rushing into the clinic like a headless chicken. The nurses reassured me and said the Pr. had not yet arrived, but if I had arrived later that Pr., then all would not be well. The nurses went further to reassure me that I should not get frightened if I should hear Pr. shouting, relating that previous MOs had been so shaken by the shouting that they had become paralysed, unable to proceed.
I had worked with Pr. before and had an inkling of what was to come, but it was still pretty unnerving. I got scolded for almost everything, and Pr. had somehow gotten the idea that I had previously run the clinic before and was thus making the same errors all over again, at least until I corrected that misconception. Not that it saved me from more scoldings.
I was quite unperturbed by it all; Pr.s in AnnYouH are famous for their quirks and idiosyncracies and their exacting standards with regard to junior staff performance. I am a bit of an obsessive-compulsive character myself, so I can totally relate to getting upset over things not being done my way, though someone should slap me if I should ever harangue a junior over these minor details (I just nag and complain). So, I'm just here to learn, not to get angry over things like these.
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A friend (same batch) asked me today how I can seem so Zen about work and having to work with non-functioning juniors or those whose work attitude and performance leave much to be desired. I thought about it, and said, I'm actually not Zen at all. I get upset and annoyed, and I even tell them off for it. But at the end of the day, I try not to let these things affect me, even though it's cathartic to bitch about them to fellow MOs when we meet up. Every batch will complain about their juniors; it's a tradition, almost. An age-old cycle of lamenting that the younger generation is more pampered than us, that they cannot perform up to the standards we set when we were in their positions.
I'm sure that when I was an SIP, my HO was annoyed by my inability to set a simple plug or for bumping a vein on my first venepuncture; my MO frustrated by my slow clerking of new cases on call when I was a HO. Registrars probably discuss among themselves about the merits and demerits of the various MOs they've worked with. On and on it goes.
As much as I appreciate the teaching in AnnYouH these past months, I have my reservations about the way in which we are learning, because there is a lot of hand-holding as compared to EssGeeH, where MOs are really the ones deciding on a lot of the patient's management. When you are placed in that kind of position, you can only learn; sink or swim. Admittedly it raises concerns about patient safety in some situations, but I find that much more stimulating and conducive to learning than having your hand held and someone looking over your shoulder all the time. Only being able to do procedures when you are accredited is just a way of protecting the hospital from lawsuits and complaints, but if the preferred person to do a procedure is someone who has done it many times before, then how will the juniors learn to do it, and evolve into someone who has done the same procedure many times? We all have to learn somehow, and failure within acceptable limits that does not endanger the patient, should be permissible. After all, failure is the mother of success, is it not?
But that's a debate for another time, and it's late. "My brain has stopped working."
Avaris / 11/24/2011 11:51:00 PM
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