There are some good things about this system, but quite a few bad ones as well.
Good things:
- you don't feel stuck in a rut, and you keep learning new things.
- it makes you adaptable and better at getting on with people
- no problem seems quite as bad - eg you find a colleague difficult to deal with, you can say "oh well, I'll never have to see him/her again in a few months"
Bad things
- All the forms!!! Every 6 months I fill out a CRB form, a wages form, an occupational health form, a car parking form, a name badge form, and I have to show up with the same collection of important documents. This time I can't find my passport - not a good sign
- it is unsettling. my wages, my rota, my journey time all change every 6 months, not to mention what I do all day at work. this time my wages are going down. boo.
- because you know from the start, and so does everybody else, that you are only there for 6 months, you just don't invest emotionally in the job and the place as much as you would if it was permanent. and likewise people don't see you as a long term colleague or potential friend in quite the same way that they might if you were staying around. In hospital maybe the consultant never quite learns your name properly, or you don't fight quite so hard against the stupidity of the rota because as above, you know you only have to put up with it a bit longer by the time you've realised how rubbish it is. Or as in my current job in general practice, you're working with a team of people who know they'll probably be together the rest of their working lives. They know each others' families, habits, they remember weddings and births, mishaps, illnesses etc. And although they've all been kind and friendly to me, it's not the same and you can feel the slight (very slight) distance. It makes me sad and means maybe I don't expect to find lifelong friends at work. I think some people are better than me at this, maybe they live more in the moment, invest emotionally even though they know it's only for a short time, and are more likely to see colleagues outside of work and stay in touch afterwards. Maybe it is partly to do with the fact that I find initiating a friendship a little bit difficult. It's that step between "I like you and we chat about stuff and get on well" and "you are my friend and not just a colleague", that I find difficult to get over. Whether this is because of all the job changing, or whether I'm just using that as an excuse for my own hesitancy and insecurity I'm not sure.
Anyway, that was far too long for the content of a bullet point! I will be sad to leave this job - the people are all nice. Particularly enjoyable to rant along with the other doctors about the state of the nhs, the patients, hospital medicine - everybody except us really - at lunchtimes. Have got to know a few patients - some see me regularly as "their doctor" and I've never had that before. Have got used to finding out what happens to people instead of them vanishing off into the ether and never seeing them again, which is what happens in hospital medicine. Anyway, I could happily work here for longer. However, psychiatry sounds like it will be fairly relaxing, I had some good feedback from my GP trainer today, so there's not too much to grumble about. I can cope with moving on.
3 comments:
Psychiatry relaxing? Sounds anything but to me - but then what do I know? Congratulate yourself on making it through your first year of GP training - yippee!!!
Getting to have people come to you as "their doctor" must be excellent, a real bonus. What kind of Psychiatry are you doing? Husbink's sister was an SHO in the area until taking a year out this year (to do social anthropology masters!) and I think she would agree - at times at least - that it *could* be relaxing. :)
I am doing adult community psychiatry, although I cover the inpatient ward on call and occasionally during the day. Am on my second day and it is a completely different pace of life - v chilled out, but will blog about it soon - i am at work at the moment
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