Doc as God

[Guest guest]

Trust me (or else), I'm a doctor

 

Thinking of entering the medical profession? Beware;

it is rife with bullies,

Thursday June 8, 2006

I am in the somewhat unusual, though by no means

unique, position of intending to leave a successful,

well-paid career in the City to retrain as a doctor.

There are, however, a sizeable number of individuals

who follow the opposite path and leave medicine

believing the world outside to be sweeter.

One little-acknowledged factor is the contribution

bullying has made to ending the careers of many

promising medics.

A colleague who recently left medicine and joined the

corporate cloisters in which I currently serve spoke

to me about his experiences as a junior doctor at a

major teaching hospital. There he witnessed the most

appalling bullying of various colleagues that he was

moved to leave the profession after several years of

training.

Others I spoke to told of nasty rumours being

propagated, and careers being destroyed on a whim.

It's a small medical world out there and if somebody

doesn't like you, one wrong word can ruin perceptions

of you and your work forever.

Tactics apparently varied from the puerile and

childish - competitions to see how quickly female

doctors could be made to cry in the working day - to

the downright irresponsible and serious.

Within demanding disciplines such as surgery and

anaesthetics, training of doctors is carefully and

rigidly structured. Life-threatening situations can

emerge unpredictably from routine procedures and the

person in command of the procedure needs to have

sufficient confidence and experience to make a snap

decision that can save or lose a life. For this reason

there are certain tasks that can be performed only by

consultants.

However, I was told of incidents in which junior

doctors were forced to carry out these consultant-only

tasks by their senior mentors who enjoyed the

experience of watching them fail.

Patients could have been killed or been left

permanently damaged as a result, and there is a good

chance they actually were.

The chances of every patient who experienced this

treatment emerging unscathed are pretty slim. Proving

this is quite another matter. Bullies in the health

sector are extremely adept at covering their tracks.

They are also extremely skilled at deflecting the

blame onto junior colleagues who as a result of the

reputation that will then precede them from this

action may never be able to work as a doctor again.

Those that suffer in this way will rarely speak. The

culture of fear that surrounds these professional

bullies runs very deep indeed and it seems as though

they operate almost endemically within the NHS.

Unfortunately, the incidents I describe are not

isolated and I have heard many similar stories. Tales

of nervous breakdowns, lifelong dependencies on

medication and the abandoning of many years of

training are all too common.

The answer is clearly to foster a culture in which

doctors who bully are not tolerated and doctors who

are bullied are not afraid to speak about their

experiences. This is easier said than done. Doctors

who bully have little to fear in the way of

retribution. Since their victims will not speak and

their colleagues will not challenge them, their

behaviour goes unpunished.

So what do I do? Five years at medical school as a

graduate paying top-up fees in advance is going to

cost me about £70,000 in total.

I don't want to spend that much money on pursuing a

career where it's almost a dead certainty that I will

be bullied at some point. I don't want to be forced

into conducting a procedure everyone knows I can't do

and that might kill my patient. I don't want my

medical career curtailed just because somebody doesn't

like me. I don't want to be systematically and

relentlessly undermined and picked upon.

But I do want to be doctor. However, with all of this

in mind, I'm beginning to wonder whether I should go

through with it all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Well said! The medical profession period has no less this reputation than the Awfully British Public School system on which I suspect it is modelled. Certainly you have nurses suiciding for the same reason. Even watching soaps ("House", "Grey's Anatomy", "Scrubs" gives you clear clues as to precisely how it happens) I believe these soaps can give you leverage in handling such problems. Certainly they give you a chance to see up close how it goes, they're pretty accurate. Honesty, love of the patient - your fellow man - and common sense - go a long way to alleviating the "certainty" of being bullied. It does seem to depend on how you present yourself, your dedication and your awareness, both of yourself as well as the other. It seems a shame to lose you when the medical profession desperately needs upright beings to save it from itself - as an old nurse I sincerely trust you will follow your passion to the end, while at the back of my mind I will wonder what exactly you can get as an MD that you cannot get as a naturopath, homeopath or Vaidya. Does the subject line say it all?

 

Jane

 

 

-

james white

Friday, June 09, 2006 5:13 AM

Re: Doc as God

 

 

Trust me (or else), I'm a doctor Thinking of entering the medical profession? Beware;it is rife with bullies, Thursday June 8, 2006 I am in the somewhat unusual, though by no meansunique, position of intending to leave a successful,well-paid career in the City to retrain as a doctor.There are, however, a sizeable number of individualswho follow the opposite path and leave medicinebelieving the world outside to be sweeter.One little-acknowledged factor is the contributionbullying has made to ending the careers of manypromising medics. A colleague who recently left medicine and joined thecorporate cloisters in which I currently serve spoketo me about his experiences as a junior doctor at amajor teaching hospital. There he witnessed the mostappalling bullying of various colleagues that he wasmoved to leave the profession after several years oftraining. Others I spoke to told of nasty rumours beingpropagated, and careers being destroyed on a whim.It's a small medical world out there and if somebodydoesn't like you, one wrong word can ruin perceptionsof you and your work forever. Tactics apparently varied from the puerile andchildish - competitions to see how quickly femaledoctors could be made to cry in the working day - tothe downright irresponsible and serious. Within demanding disciplines such as surgery andanaesthetics, training of doctors is carefully andrigidly structured. Life-threatening situations canemerge unpredictably from routine procedures and theperson in command of the procedure needs to havesufficient confidence and experience to make a snapdecision that can save or lose a life. For this reasonthere are certain tasks that can be performed only byconsultants. However, I was told of incidents in which juniordoctors were forced to carry out these consultant-onlytasks by their senior mentors who enjoyed theexperience of watching them fail. Patients could have been killed or been leftpermanently damaged as a result, and there is a goodchance they actually were. The chances of every patient who experienced thistreatment emerging unscathed are pretty slim. Provingthis is quite another matter. Bullies in the healthsector are extremely adept at covering their tracks.They are also extremely skilled at deflecting theblame onto junior colleagues who as a result of thereputation that will then precede them from thisaction may never be able to work as a doctor again. Those that suffer in this way will rarely speak. Theculture of fear that surrounds these professionalbullies runs very deep indeed and it seems as thoughthey operate almost endemically within the NHS.Unfortunately, the incidents I describe are notisolated and I have heard many similar stories. Talesof nervous breakdowns, lifelong dependencies onmedication and the abandoning of many years oftraining are all too common. The answer is clearly to foster a culture in whichdoctors who bully are not tolerated and doctors whoare bullied are not afraid to speak about theirexperiences. This is easier said than done. Doctorswho bully have little to fear in the way ofretribution. Since their victims will not speak andtheir colleagues will not challenge them, theirbehaviour goes unpunished. So what do I do? Five years at medical school as agraduate paying top-up fees in advance is going tocost me about £70,000 in total. I don't want to spend that much money on pursuing acareer where it's almost a dead certainty that I willbe bullied at some point. I don't want to be forcedinto conducting a procedure everyone knows I can't doand that might kill my patient. I don't want mymedical career curtailed just because somebody doesn'tlike me. I don't want to be systematically andrelentlessly undermined and picked upon.But I do want to be doctor. However, with all of thisin mind, I'm beginning to wonder whether I should gothrough with it all.