12
April 2011
Comment
Comment Editor: Sarah Pape comment@medical-student.co.uk
The BBC’s ‘Junior Doctors’: is this our future? Zainab Sansusi Guest Writer I, like every other NHS service user, was genuinely interested in the con- cept of the BBC program following junior doctors, and rather curiously observed the type of service I was to expect when told I would be seen by a young doctor. As a third year medi- cal student, though, I was also secretly hoping to see that the myths I had heard about life as a junior doctor weren’t true -as you’ve probably gathered none of there stories were very positive! The foundation doctors I had seen in action described a common theme of being unable to spend the money they make, and an erratic shift pat- tern that hinders them from the ac- tive social life that was so enjoyed during medical school. In short they seem stressed and dejected.
“There are numerous occasions where our fresh faces are accused of possessing inadequate knowledge” For those who don’t know, the programme follows seven newly qualified doctors working on vari- ous wards in one of two hospitals in Newcastle. The film crew follows them during their shifts at work, as well as at their home - all seven have been housed together - in a bid to portray all aspects of their lifestyles. We have seen each character be in- troduced, and I love to that they have found a good variation in personali- ties and consequently work ethic. The first episode introduces both the cool, calm, collected doctor who definite- ly knows her stuff, the one anybody would be glad to be stuck with in A&E, and the arrogant one who, thinking he knows his stuff, falls at the first hurdle -though I am sure the pressure of the situation could have been the cause. Throughout the series we see their day-to-day conduct. I can confidently see some of the stories I had already heard coming to light. Medicine defi- nitely seems to be more than just f un and games. We see an exhausting pattern of shifts, some of which include highly pressured nights, while others consist of routine tasks such as taking bloods or inserting cannulas coupled with some very uninteresting paperwork. For those attached to wards, medi- cine doesn’t seem to live up to ex- pectations and they find there are not enough patients and far too much pa- perwork. Emergency medicine, on the
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other hand, is fast-paced and laced with plenty of responsibility.. There are numerous occasions where our fresh doctors are accused of possess- ing inadequate knowledge, and we are shown five years of medical training put to good use proving them wrong. We also see some of the highs of be- ing a doctor, with our fantastic seven saving lives, but then some tear-jerk- ing lows when we are reminded that not all people can be saved. We are shown that all medics are also humans;; being tired and overworked can result in mistakes during routine tasks, and a failure to live up to the high standards we all set for ourselves. We see their experiences dramatically affect future career choices, and they are all faced with tough choices related to speciality. When we follow our young doc- tors home the long hours and hectic timetables really can take its toll on their social life, though they are fight- ing the “all work, no play” stereotype that doctors are so commonly as- sociated with. Each doctor attempts to keep up with lifelong hobbies, at the same time as juggling the books and the night-shifts. All, in my opin- ion, an accurate portrayal of what be- ing a foundation doctor will be like, not that I am pleased to admit it. Unfortunately I can say there are a few negative aspects of the portray- al of doctors on this programme. To house them in a large, all expenses paid accommodation, living lives a lot more comfortable than the norm of those recently graduated is, in my opinion, very inaccurate. We don’t see the struggles of a person that is newly finding their feet within their career and needs to balance acquiring their first home, paying bills and manag- ing their first pay cheques. Moreover, their rather active social lives are also rather questionable. We see our doc- tors are also dancers, rugby players and members of bands, all of which I am sure they’d be unable to dedi- cate as much time to as we’re are led to believe. It seems the BBC are keen to depict them as well rounded so we hear more about these out of hours activities than we would when talk- ing to doctors in other hospitals. To conclude, I would say this pro- gramme is an accurate representation of life a junior doctor, featuring vari- ous aspects of the emotions they ex- perience as a result of it. I frequently question my reasons for studying med- icine, often letting the negative aspects override the positive ones, and feel seeing this firsthand depiction where the pros clearly outweigh the cons has reconfirmed in my mind my initial reasons for studying medicine. Kudos to the BBC, I am glad to see my Li- censing Fee is going to good use!
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Featured Interview Junior doctor Katherine on her time with the BBC, and the dangers of editing Interview by Bibek Das One of the doctors is 24-year-old Cambridge graduate, Dr Katherine Conroy, who is an aspiring surgeon. From the first episode, we see her starting off on the busy plastics ward, trying to manage her life alongside a busy schedule that includes weekends and night shifts. But what would initially motivate a young junior doctor to sign up to a BBC documentary? ‘I think my main motivation was that I felt really lucky that I came from a medical background, so when I was first applying to medical school I knew people who had gone through the whole process and I knew what being a doctor is about. I think knowing people who have gone through it makes it less scary, and I thought it would be good for people who weren’t from a medical background to be able to see that you don’t have to be some super-amazing-perfect person to do this job; it is something that is attainable.’ As for actually making the show, was it an enjoyable experience overall? She describes it mostly as ‘interesting’: ‘there were good bits and bad bits of it. I was new to the city and I didn’t really know many people, so being put in a house with six other junior doctors was just brilliant because it meant that I didn’t feel I was on my own starting out and I had readymade friends (laughs); that was really nice. Also the camera crew were absolutely lovely. Sometimes it was quite nice that when you had a tough day you’ve got someone who you could talk to; it’s actually quite therapeutic.’ It wasn’t always easy, however, to undergo the stress of filming while starting off on a house job: ‘I think I didn’t realise when I signed up for it just how busy my job was going to be. They would come towards me in the afternoon and say: right Katherine, we just need a 5-minute chat at some point. And I thought, well, I haven’t even been to the toilet since 7 o’clock this morning, so good luck trying to fit in a five-minute chat when I’ve got all these bloods to take and all these patients to see! So there were bits where it added to the stress of the job. But overall, I think I’m glad I did it.’ Each day, the junior doctors carried out their usual tasks, which would include clerking patients, working with nurses and presenting to their seniors. The notable addition, however, was that a camera crew would be following them through a busy hospital. The reaction on the wards was initially mixed: ‘I think the nurses on my ward were initially very wary because I think they were worried that it was going to be some sort of Panorama-style exposé of NHS failures, and I think they’re right to think that because there is so much bad press about the NHS and everyone’s so quick to put it down and jump on any mistake, and not to see the bigger picture and all the good things about it. So they were quite defensive at first, but I think as the filming progressed, I think they became a lot more comfortable about it and, certainly the nurses on my ward, they really had my back and were really protective of me, and they would really look out for me.’
And how did the patients react to being filmed? ‘Some patients don’t like to be involved, but I felt the way it was put to them, they didn’t feel like they had to become involved in the filming.’ The reaction from patients could occasionally be surprising: ‘some of them actually really enjoyed it. I remember when I was on-call I went to see an elderly lady with acute cholangitis. She was in so much pain and she was so ill, I really didn’t know if it was in her best interests to have a camera crew there. When it was mentioned to her, her face just lit up and immediately she was saying ‘Oh am I going to be on television?!’ and the transformation was amazing; and I think it was more than the morphine (laughs). A lot of them
“The camera crew were lovely. Sometimes it was quite nice that when you had a tough day you’ve got someone who you could talk to; it’s actually quite therapeutic.” quite enjoyed getting involved – especially the plastics patients – a lot of them are physically very well, and really bored in hospital and it was kind of a welcome distraction for them. So a lot of them were really positive about it.’ Was it nerve-wracking to perform clinical procedures in front of a camera crew? ‘It made you really think about what you were saying, and made you think about what you were doing. And because you were so hyper-aware of the fact you were being filmed, I found that I probably