Job-hunting begins

As stated in my previous post, I am now looking to relocate to another job. Where my job-hunt will take me, I do not know as yet. I have tendered my resignation to my boss, and it is a matter of time - perhaps a few months - before I bid adieu to Blackpool and look for a job elsewhere. The experience of working for the first time in NHS has been humbling and I have realised that no amount of experience of working in India as a consultant prepared me for this complex system of shared care. In the UK, as perhaps in most developed nations, a lot of emphasis is on safety in health care; well, I haven't been overtly unsafe so far. However, I have had to course-correct on managing illnesses here in a very, very cautious way. While we rely on experience in managing day-to-day problems in India, evidence is what they look for. A hint of something that doesn't match an illness profile, and they will run to add more tests and more treatment till the evidence states otherwise. 

Hence, we have so many children undergoing expensive investigations and procedures; so many are started on antibiotics till the results of tests become available; so many are hospitalised just so that nothing is missed; so many undergo specialised tests and referrals to tertiary centres where there is even a shred of doubt to something unusual happening.

Being skilled in one's practical procedures is an important part of one's job requirements. In Paediatrics, for example, this means being skilled at putting needles and cannulas into veins of chubby and fractious children, being able to perform lumbar punctures (where they put in a tiny needle into the back to withdraw a small quantity of fluid for examination), and being able to revive a struggling newborn as it prepares to breathe for the first time when it is born. I have definitely improved in these skills, but still have a long way to go before I will be ready to move on to the next stage of competency. One of the reasons for my relative inexperience was the fact that I haven't performed these basic procedures since the mid-eighties when I was a resident doctor myself. Right from 1987, when I started my consulting practice, I have relied on my junior residents or nurses to do all these things.

Above all, communication is so important that erring in giving the right information, or giving superfluous information, can be one's undoing. Being inappropriately flippant when a serious tone is called for, being verbose without explaining properly, being ignorant about risks and percentages - they can all backfire on you when it comes to appraising you for your adequacy as a medical practitioner.

For me, this experience has been demonstrative of all the above.  I have now decided to apply for a more junior cadre of work so that I have less responsibility and stress of performing, and more freedom to learn. This may mean a slightly lower salary, but I am ready to forgo some money to be able to acquire more skills. At least that is the case for now. I cannot say what my thinking will be in the months to come. 

Every new adventure cannot be a guaranteed success. It is in our hands to try, and if you fail, to try again. It is not the end of the world, and, as they say in parables, success comes only to those who keep trying. 

Thanks for reading.