When a couple of consultants get together, it seems, the conversation inevitably turns to registrars and their shortcomings. This years crop of new ones – we’ve just had a change over of RMOs here in the UK – are quite the disappointment. Rather than being senior and experienced, some of these have only been doing anaesthetics for three years! The overnight reg last Sunday night didn’t bother seeing the first patients on the lists! OK, there wasn’t a list that he could access to find out who was scheduled, but a bit of gumption on his part would have sorted it all out. And I can’t believe that registrar today was worried about the airway – previous grade one, right there on the system! In our day, we had much more initiative, we didn’t expect to be mollycoddled all the time. Last year our supervisor of training bought all the registrars a bottle of bubbly after they’d finished their run, to show our appreciation for all their hard work. And what did we get in return? Six red flags in our online run reviews submitted by those very same registrars! Makes you wonder why we bother…
The two registrars I’ve worked with most since I’ve been here have been terrific. One (the charming Canadian) was a pilot before his anaesthetist father persuaded him to study medicine. The other one was a qualified lawyer, and still works part time as a medico legal lawyer during his anaesthetic training. Makes my year of astrophysics seem like child’s play. Their stories of being an RMO under the NHS are frightening. There was an RMO strike about pay and conditions last year that was a resounding failure, in part because the press were extremely negative about them. One of them said he actually got spat on by a member of the public as he was going to work during the strike. (I suggested this may have been because they knew he was a lawyer – in which case, fair play as far as I’m concerned- and he did acknowledge this).
The juniors and seniors work together but don’t seem to be being honest with each other. Is it the state of the NHS that’s causing this unsympathetic attitude? I don’t know but it’s sad and I really feel sorry for the registrars. I hope our juniors feel better treated and are happier.