“NURTURING YOUNG DOCTORS – Hope, Reality, Tragedy. (Part 2)”
(Mental Health and Well-Being at the Workplace)
Posted on Paul J Psychology Consultancy
For more than 35 years I have worked in university and hospital settings. I have regularly been consulted with regard to medical personnel facing various stresses during career as a doctor; especially during housemanship and as junior doctors. Some doctors have given up medicine and a significant number have given up on life itself – attempted and committed suicide. Many have found themselves so desperate that they have turned their problems inward and have died a thousand deaths. I have witnessed doctors dying from complications arising from issues associated with ‘housemanship’ problems and how these were ‘mis’-managed. It is indubitable that housemanship has its peculiar challenges and these have metamorphosed over time for many reasons as we progressively live in fraught times.
The world recognizes the sacrifices medical personnel make and the risks they take in helping patients suffering from the present pandemic. I have lost friends and ex-students to this disease. It’s amazing, almost bigoted, how we hail them as heroes now but through their developmental years we almost encourage and ‘allow’ them to ‘suffer’ the ‘tradition ’of a doctor’s gestation. It is both a joke and an insult when experts, including educators suggest that this is a natural process as in childbirth – joy after pain. It’s worse when it is suggested that if others have been through it then why not you? And of course the adage, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going” is flaunted stupidly.
From zero to hero and back to zero. Nothing will change unless something changes. We need to do it. We cannot keep taking our medical graduates for granted.
In as much as I wish to, I am not able to change the status quo of this ‘imperfect’ ‘caring’ system’. I and we can only be ‘practically noisy about it and try to hold the powers that be accountable for this massive fall-out and disgrace. Sadly, it will remain unresolved; insidiously becoming a permanent aspect of culture. I run numerous support groups for young doctors who need support but it is not enough. We need to collaborate and develop, not just one-off ‘’vaccines” or little isolated bubbles that burst upon reality testing; we need effective, evolving and sustainable strategies that address the life-span of the ‘doctor’.
I wish to kick-start an idea for all medical alumni to run with. As much as that this problem is not specific to any particular university my hope is to motivate stake-holders to design and make available a ‘support’ system. One that is engaged in an interventional manner but also with a strong emphasis on preventative initiatives.
How can we support one another? Locally and internationally – as medical graduates we are one family of professionals. In no way is this article a criticism of how we train and support our medical students at Monash University. In my opinion we do an outstanding and premier job and I’m proud to be part of the team.
The questions are, through extra-curricula and beyond bureaucratic limitations, how can we prevent this problem and what can we do about it when it happens? How can we do this while preserving privacy and integrity? It need not be a complex or a Nobel prize-winning effort. It has to be functional and practical.
As teachers and colleagues we’ve taught and worked with thousands of medical students and who have grown into doctors – seniors and juniors –survivors. As young doctors and beyond, all of you have gone on to heal and touch the lives of innumerable patients. As students you’ve known hundreds in your university. Everyone matters. There must be a support system that we can develop. I will do all I can, within my means, to support any endeavor towards this cause.
I would like to see how ‘more’ supportive classmates can be, where acquaintances, friendships and bonds that were formed in the classroom should extend into professional life and last a life-time. Wherever you are, you are all, in effect, professional colleagues.
I wish to share an aphorism. I hope you make it yours.
“To cure sometimes, to relieve often, to comfort always.” (Dr. Edward Trudeau, 1800s).
I appeal to you with a heavy yet hopeful heart.
Reach out and ask.
Reach out and help.
It’s your call.
Let’s do something about your ‘calling’.
“WHEREVER THE ART OF MEDICINE IS LOVED, THERE IS ALSO A LOVE OF HUMANITY.” Hippocrates.
“SANE-TISE” and have fun MAKING HAPPINESS HAPPEN.
The following reference was shared with me by a colleague of mine, a young man whom I had the privilege of teaching, a close family friend and a consummate professional. Dr. Shafie Kamaruddin is a Consultant Physician (Diabetes & Endocrinology). He also holds significant responsibility within the NHS as Deputy Medical Director for Governance, Patient Safety and Therapeutics, County Durham & Darlington Hospitals Foundation Trust.
He is of the opinion that this is a difficult cultural issue to change and that it has taken the UK many years to define and address. Yet, there still remain numerous cases of undermining / bullying junior doctors. It is unfortunate that this results in massive personal loss and cost; especially to mental health and wellbeing. This sad state, both directly and indirectly contributes to loss of their own lives and the lives of patients. The reality and cost of compromising patients’ health and losing lives is unacceptable. It is suggested that, when ‘civility’ is lost within medical teams and the system, especially when it affects the most junior member of the team, who are typically the backbone of the system, the health system is failing. We are failing in fundamental terms of being human.
I would encourage you to google ‘civility saves lives’ movement which discusses this issue.
https://www.civilitysaveslives.com/
Also see the GMC website:
About the author
Written by Paul K. Jambunathan. Paul is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with over 35 yrs of experience in applied psychology in Britain, Australia and Malaysia. A passionate proponent of Positive Psychology and Emotional Intelligence, he is active in advancing this in private and professional settings.
