Medical Professionalism Matters

On the evening of the 12th of July, I had the unique opportunity to attend a workshop on the captioned topic. The venue was the Museum of Science and Industry at Deansgate, Manchester.

This was a joint programme of many organisations led by the UK's top regulating body, the General Medical Council. Other organisers included the British Medical Association, the RCGP, the RCP, and others. The thrust of this event was to interact and formulate a blueprint of what professionalism means to doctors and other healthcare workers in modern times. There were discussions related to several aspects of this; they included talking about proper communication, having compassion in care, being ethical and responsible, being concerned about self-development (professionally and otherwise), being safe and having a paramount concern for safety in healthcare, being a team-worker and being resilient. 

There was a keynote speaker, Prof. Jacky Hayden (@Hayden.Jacky), who spoke on several aspects of qualities of being a good health professional. Her talk was brief but it highlighted all the important issues and set the tone for the next programme - a series of group discussions. During these group discussions, a moderator from the GMC collected thoughts from the participants at each table on a specific aspect of the main theme. Thus, there were tables where, for example, communication was discussed; or, where the discussion related to patient safety, or, to doctors' advancement as scholars and innovators in their field. I enjoyed these group discussions tremendously. There were professionals from all walks of the medical field, right from junior doctors like me, to stalwarts like Pali Hungin, the president of the BMA, sharing ideas freely on all these topics. Each table sat for 20minutes, then we changed to another table, with another topic for brainstorming. 

Supper was served after these discussions, and this was then followed by a panel discussion where the panellists took questions sent by participants. The entire discussion was very illuminating. One of the speakers was Dr Umesh Prabhu, (@DrUmeshPrabhu), a Paediatrician from Wigan. He is a highly innovative person who has made a mark on NHS through his work related to Patient Safety in Healthcare. Do look him up on Twitter.

To read more about this event, and the issues raised therein, do visit www.gooddoctors.co.uk.

Thank you.

P.S. For non-medicos, who are not interested in this post, I apologise sincerely. 

Slow and steady ... Monday: Manchester

It has been over 4 days since I landed in the UK. I have to complete many formalities before I can officially join and start earning a salary. The first one was to visit my department, meet the head, Dr. Peter Curtis, join the staff for a morning hand-over of patients in the ward, and then proceed to complete various hospital formalities. All these I did on Monday morning, before leaving for Manchester, where I had to present myself with my documents for an identity check with the General Medical Council, the licensing body for doctors. 

To go to Manchester, one goes either by taxi or by a bus to Blackpool North Railway station and catches a Manchester train from there. The ride is completed in 1 hour and 10 minutes. I arrived at my destination station (Deansgate, Manchester) at about 1 p.m. My appointment was for half-past two in the afternoon, and the GMC offices were about 10 minutes away from the station. I slipped into a cafe called Hatty's Cafe and had a sliced egg sandwich and a tea. I sat in the cafe, reading Metro, the nationwide tabloid that is distributed to all and sundry free of cost. 

My interview - actually it isn't an interview but an identity and document check - went off well. They verified all my documents, but were not so satisfied with a certificate that I had downloaded from the website of the Maharashtra Medical Council (this was the certificate of Good Standing). They told me that they would email the MMC and ask them to confirm the veracity of the certificate. I was surprised because the said certificate is always downloaded, and no original is usually provided. In any case, I rigorously followed up this issue with both, the GMC and the MMC. As I write this, I can say that the issue is nearing resolution, thanks to one Mr. Dinesh, a MMC officer, who has already replied positively to the GMC in response to the latter's inquiring e-mail.

After the id check, I went to Tesco Express - a departmental store with limited stuff - and purchased some items of snacks and otherwise. Retail is very, very competitive here in the UK. Every brand has their own loyalty cards, They issue the card on the spot, add the points of the same day's purchase, and then ask you to register online. That's pretty good, isn't it.  

After my return from Manchester, which was at around 7.30 p.m., I returned to my room, which is inside the Blackpool Victoria Hospital complex. And that is something I shall write about in my next post. My room, 

Thanks for reading. Keep following my posts, and I promise the blog will get more colourful and cheerful in the days to come.