>I'm afraid this is true of the majority of SpR's. Goodness knows
how they expect to gain the necessary shopfloor experience to consider
themselves
to be the Specialist their CCST states that they are when they go to ground
in their office picking and choosing cases - being reluctantly dragged out
when
it's busy.<
This thread is really quite revealing about the attitudes and beliefs of
our Consultant colleagues. Could I ask that all contributors include their
designation and hospital at the bottom of their postings so that I can
highlight and delete departments from my list of places to consider when my
CCST states that I am "trained".
>SpR, bless them, contribute to less than 30% of the service provision in
my
view. Want to go on many training courses and days and spend a lot of time
studying and reading and not in the sharp end of thing.<
I have never been accused of failing to pull my weight in any department.
In the absence of a consultant, I see it as my clinical responsibility to
maintain smooth patient flow, oversee the activities of the SHOs for both
safety and teaching purposes and take on the tricky, awkward cases where an
experienced hand will benefit the outcome. I will operate "crowd control"
when required and at other times will muck in generally on a "next off the
pile" principle.
If there is somebody more senior on the shop floor then I will function as
an experienced SHO and leave the organising to them. If I number crunch in
a linear fashion all the time then perhaps an SHO would be a more
financially appropriate person to be in my place.
I may be quite a senior SpR but I don't believe for a minute I can justify
every clinical decision I make on the evidence. Now is the time for me to
be putting a scientific base to my personal guidelines / action plans. This
is time studying and reading. If the Department does not require my
presence at a particular point is there anything wrong with this? Following
up a question as it occurs clinically is a very effective way of making
sure the knowledge sticks.
>first and foremost a doctor, there to see patients.<
May be, but as a Consultant you also have a responsibility to ALL the
patients, not just your particular clinical handful. Good departmental
organisation, supervision, training and quality control/audit will all
improve the "customer experience" - rather a senior doctor that I respect
than an ex-Tesco's manager.
Darren Walter
Yorkshire SpR
(seconded to Sydney, Australia)
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