AMAV VICDOC SUMMER 2023 - Magazine - Page 49
O
ver the last weeks and
months, final-year medical
students across Victoria
have started receiving
offers to join the medical workforce
as interns in 2023. Personally, and
commonly among my peers, the
feeling is of both apprehension and
optimism. After disruptions due to
COVID-19 (and in my own case,
intermitting to undertake a year
of research), I have come to value
my clinical opportunities in the
hospital. I am ready to be of more
help to my team: I feel prepared
for the responsibility of ordering a
urine culture from the ward round
plan, without waiting for a doctor
to co-sign my order. “Sorry, I’m the
medical student, you’ll have to ask
the doctor” is sometimes beginning
to wear thin.
At the same time, the
responsibility of making decisions
– decisions which could cause
substantial patient harm if made
incorrectly – is a heavy one. Of
the questions which I see posed
to my interns and residents, those
which I could confidently and
correctly answer account, as would
be expected, for a slim minority.
Apologies in advance, to my
residents and registrars, who will
be fielding many simple questions
from me as I find my feet! In
this regard, we all will assuredly
be grateful for the support and
In navigating the
transition from senior
students to junior doctors,
we will assuredly be
looking to each other,
and to our senior
colleagues, for support
and guidance.
understanding of our doctor-intraining colleagues and senior
medical supervisors, while we grow
over the next year as our interns
and residents did before us.
The transition from a medical
student to a junior doctor also
brings new challenges beyond the
academic practice of medicine.
Workplace relations, rostering,
payroll, leave – none of these are
in the medical school curriculum,
but all junior doctors deal with
these topics, some potentially for
the first time. Bullying, harassment
and wellbeing also take on new
complexity as employment,
assessment and training progression
interweave in a intricate tapestry of
professional relationships.
To complicate matters, we
enter the medical workforce at a
time when the discussion around
many of these issues is changing.
Junior doctor class action lawsuits
regarding unrostered overtime have
thrust patient safety and doctors’
wellbeing into the public limelight.
We have gone through the bulk of
our clinical placements in a setting
where junior doctors have actively
and visibly pushed for change
to structures which endanger
patients. At information sessions
for prospective interns, health
services are now invariably asked to
discuss their policies surrounding
unrostered overtime. Students want
to work for health services which
share their value of patient safety
and doctor wellbeing.
Similarly, the renegotiation of
the Victorian enterprise agreements
for doctors-in-training and
specialists has created opportunity
for students, as soon-to-be doctors,
to have healthy discussions about
our conditions at work – and
ultimately to reflect on our role as
advocates in shaping a healthcare
system which does right by our
patients and colleagues, rather than
simply accepting a status quo which
may be lacking.
In navigating the transition
from senior students to junior
doctors, we will assuredly be
looking to each other, and to our
senior colleagues, for support and
guidance. As medical students,
when it comes to academic and
social issues, placement concerns or
student advocacy, we are all familiar
with the support provided by our
student representatives and medical
student societies. As junior doctors,
we likewise ought look to our peers
and professional association as a
vehicle to support external advocacy
and member-facing support. I
look forward to joining my fellow
graduates, and our senior colleagues
in AMA Victoria, as we continue
to advocate for our patients
and peers.
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