Thread by @dr_ashwitt

Read this story whilst crying my eyes out. Physician training is kinder than surgery but so much of this is true. Being a doctor in training is brutal.
mindbodymiko.com/the-ugly-side-…

There are lots of well meaning tweets on my timeline today from outraged senior doctors, but this needs more than tweets. We all need to stop pretending this is happening at other hospitals. It’s happening are your hospital, right now. So what can you do? Here’s my list.

1. Take your registrars out for coffee tomorrow. Ask them to tell you the 3 worst things about the rotation. Promise that you won’t punish them and that you will protect them from the fall out. Write their 3 worst things down.

2. Ask them to keep a spreadsheet of actual hours worked for 2 weeks. Put aside your ‘I did worse in my day’ internal monologue, this isn’t about you. I truly do not believe seniors know how many hours were actually doing, my bosses certainly don’t.

3. Ask them who the bullies on the unit are. Ask for stories. Do NOT say ‘oh he’s a good guy’. Just listen.

4. Ask them how the roster could be better. There are often simple changes that could make a huge difference. You might not want to hear them. ‘If I didn’t have to write all my bosses clinic letters as well as mine I’d have time to see the reviews’

5. If a registrar asks you to come in. GO IN! It is so difficult, almost impossible to ask your boss to come in. We want you to be happy/need you to be happy to get a reference. I never ask lightly. I’m not fishing for a compliment, just bloody come in and see the patient.

6. Repeat above for all registrars on your unit.
7. Take your collated data to the next consultants meeting and have a serious discussion about how you could do better. Make those changes. Ask around to other units how they protect their registrars.

We KNOW you had it worse. We KNOW you did longer hours. I’m sorry no one fought for you then, but please fight for us now. I can’t go to anymore funerals of my friends. I just can’t.