1 year gone
Today, Friday 13th, is my last day as an intern. There is much happiness in my heart. I'm sure it will be the same shit in a different place next year, but i think I'm ready for the new scenery.
I was supposed to get an exit interview. A chance to sit down and tell the medical education unit why there is a doctor crisis in queensland health. However, the medical education people are obviously not interested. So here is my exit interview:
Queensland health does not inspire loyalty in it's staff. It makes it clear from day 1 that you are meaningless to them, and that all they care about is getting their money's worth out of you. They make no attempt to accomodate the needs of their staff, even when it is simple and do-able (For example when one staff member wanted to do more rural terms, a term which every other junior doctor does their best to avoid, they are told they can't do more rural terms. Why? Because the medical education people would have had to consider the roster). If helping you have the holidays you want, or the rotations you want, involves the medical education people writing one email, they will consider that too much trouble and they will not do it. When asking staff to suddenly change their roster and take on extra shifts, they are impolite and unbending. If for instance you were to say "actually I've booked a holiday for those days, considering it's only 2 weeks away", their response is not "let's see who else is available", their response is "this isn't a choice this is your job, who do you think you are, you'll do what you are told".
Is it wrong for us to plan holidays? They won't compensate us for the expenses we've paid when they suddenly change the rosters. Are we supposed to keep our life on hold for the entire time we work for the hospital? They do not care for their junior doctors, and they make this abundantly clear with every action they take. However they are making a mistake. It is true that as interns, we are bound to complete our year with the hospital we started with, so they can abuse us as much as they like, and we will complain, but we can't leave and we can't really do anything about it. But as they discovered, second year doctors can and do quit, and it is as a direct result of how we are treated that we walk away from this system.
I remember clearly my first day here. I complained to some interns, Junior house doctors and registrars, about getting my holidays as my first rotation, but reflected that someone had to have their holidays then, and I'm sure the medical education unit had done their best. The response was outright laughter. I was told in no uncertain terms that they would not have tried at all, they would have done whatever was easiest for themselves. I was also told many stories, at all levels about how they would be polite to my face, but that they were not to be trusted. How they would promise you things in exchange for your help, but never follow through. That anything they said to me, I should ask for in writing.
This is the reason Queensland Health is in the state it is in. Junior doctors have no one watching their back (the union being somewhat of a joke compared to real industrial unions). They do not have a healthy relationship with the hospital administration. There is no trust and loyalty, and there is nothing to put our trust or loyalty in. The system will continue to break down, so long as junior doctors are given the impression by administration that they are expendible labour, with no rights.
END RANT
I was supposed to get an exit interview. A chance to sit down and tell the medical education unit why there is a doctor crisis in queensland health. However, the medical education people are obviously not interested. So here is my exit interview:
Queensland health does not inspire loyalty in it's staff. It makes it clear from day 1 that you are meaningless to them, and that all they care about is getting their money's worth out of you. They make no attempt to accomodate the needs of their staff, even when it is simple and do-able (For example when one staff member wanted to do more rural terms, a term which every other junior doctor does their best to avoid, they are told they can't do more rural terms. Why? Because the medical education people would have had to consider the roster). If helping you have the holidays you want, or the rotations you want, involves the medical education people writing one email, they will consider that too much trouble and they will not do it. When asking staff to suddenly change their roster and take on extra shifts, they are impolite and unbending. If for instance you were to say "actually I've booked a holiday for those days, considering it's only 2 weeks away", their response is not "let's see who else is available", their response is "this isn't a choice this is your job, who do you think you are, you'll do what you are told".
Is it wrong for us to plan holidays? They won't compensate us for the expenses we've paid when they suddenly change the rosters. Are we supposed to keep our life on hold for the entire time we work for the hospital? They do not care for their junior doctors, and they make this abundantly clear with every action they take. However they are making a mistake. It is true that as interns, we are bound to complete our year with the hospital we started with, so they can abuse us as much as they like, and we will complain, but we can't leave and we can't really do anything about it. But as they discovered, second year doctors can and do quit, and it is as a direct result of how we are treated that we walk away from this system.
I remember clearly my first day here. I complained to some interns, Junior house doctors and registrars, about getting my holidays as my first rotation, but reflected that someone had to have their holidays then, and I'm sure the medical education unit had done their best. The response was outright laughter. I was told in no uncertain terms that they would not have tried at all, they would have done whatever was easiest for themselves. I was also told many stories, at all levels about how they would be polite to my face, but that they were not to be trusted. How they would promise you things in exchange for your help, but never follow through. That anything they said to me, I should ask for in writing.
This is the reason Queensland Health is in the state it is in. Junior doctors have no one watching their back (the union being somewhat of a joke compared to real industrial unions). They do not have a healthy relationship with the hospital administration. There is no trust and loyalty, and there is nothing to put our trust or loyalty in. The system will continue to break down, so long as junior doctors are given the impression by administration that they are expendible labour, with no rights.
END RANT
posted by earthkissed | 8:47 am
3 Comments:
Hey Bec,
Hope you find it better this year in Melbourne!!
@
Glad to hear you got through your internship unscathed :D
May this year be full of better and brighter things then :)
well said. it is sad when an industry reaches the point that it forgets about the service it was providing and the people who are providing it, at the expense of efficiency and 'cost rationalisation'. i fear this is a symptom of a larger problem that will lead to the destruction of our society.
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