Back when Christian Jessen of Embarrassing Bodies fame was training as a junior doctor, he regularly worked dangerously long hours. But then in August 2009 the European Working Time Directive (EWTD) was introduced to limit the working hours of doctors to 48 hours a week. Problem solved. But of course nothing is ever that simple, […]
Category: Junior doctors
Sam Fosker: The Francis report—applications for the leaders of tomorrow
The main focus of the recent Francis report has been on the implications it has on the clinical and economic management of the NHS, but there are many lessons that can be applied to all levels of hospital hierarchy. Patient centred care is championed across healthcare, and nowhere as much as in complex care wards […]
Isobel Weinberg: The Foundation Programme Office giveth and it taketh away
On Monday, a friend posted a picture of an enormous, triple layered chocolate cake on Facebook. It was, she wrote, a present for her boyfriend—a final year medical student—to celebrate his being awarded his top choice of location for his first job next year. Getting the first choice has meaning beyond simple preference: it enables […]
Anna Allan: Training? What training?
The junior doctor’s applications process has metamorphosed from an individual interview process, to modernising medical careers (MMC), to the foundation programme application system. There has been a big push towards centralising services for the majority of NHS training applications. This year has also seen a change with regards to the application itself. A two hour […]
Jonny Martell: What they don’t teach at medical school
Tomorrow I’ll go to work and among other things, prescribe drugs. I’ve been told that they work and that they’re mostly safe. There’s plenty to encourage me in believing this: whether enshrined in official guidelines or treatment protocols (or not), lots of other doctors prescribe these drugs in the same or similar patients, for the […]
Anna Allan: Making an impact
It is a sign of the times that one of the best ways for information from outside of hospital to come to my attention is via my Facebook newsfeed. This is indeed true, with links to various newspaper articles plastered all over my homepage announcing the recent death of Joseph E Murray, a pioneer of […]
Anna Allan: Acclimatisation to the NHS
My fellow FY1s and I have been flying solo for over three months now. It has been filled with “firsts.” First day of work, first night shift… first pay cheque. All exciting milestones in their own right, and each followed, perhaps naïvely, by a sense of achievement having surmounted such momentous obstacles. Time has sprinted […]
Tom Yates: Panorama—Britain’s Secret Health Tourists
In my opinion a recent Panorama programme, “Britain’s Secret Health Tourists,” didn’t do justice to a complex issue. With a Department of Health consultation looming on the issue, it’s important doctors understand why. I’ve attempted to summarise the evidence on this issue elsewhere, so here I’ll stick to the key points that I think Panorama […]
Anna Allan: An end to “Black Wednesday?”
Shadowing began over a week ago. As around 7000 of my newly qualified peers entered our new homes (read: hospital trusts) for the first time, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of adventure. In some ways it felt like the first day of school—new rules, new faces, new friends. In others it was also […]
Fiona Pathiraja: The ePortfolio and generation Y
Am I the only member of the ePortfolio fan club? If the recent vitriol on Twitter is anything to go by, one would be forgiven for thinking that the fan club comprises n=1. The most notable tweet about ePortfolio was from an anaesthetic trainee who said, “The portfolio is the medical profession’s equivalent of Mao’s […]