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Asked by 382menb52 to Psychiatry Ward Team on 25 Jan 2019.
Question: What kind of things would you have liked to know before you entered the healthcare profession? Why?
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Sheffield Psychiatry Ward Team answered on 25 Jan 2019:
Hi! Emma here 🙂
Wow what a great question. Hmm. I think what has surprised me the most was probably the amount of paperwork we have to do, and because the NHS is so vast it can sometimes feel like you’re just a cog in a massive wheel and that it will be impossible to change things. That can be frustrating, especially if you went into Medicine as one of the top of your year group, quite used to getting on with things! When you start at medical school you are almost like the bottom rung of a ladder and it’s many years for you to work your way up, and I didn’t quite realise how true that was!
Having said that, I don’t think I realised until I graduated just how much you feel like one big family – we are all in it together, from nurses to doctors to porters to lab staff to GP receptionists. We all want the best for our patients and we will fiercely stand up for patients if needed. You will feel incredibly proud even when the hours are long and you’re tired and stressed.
I also wish someone had told me before that looking after yourself is important. When you’re dealing with stressful situations it can sometimes be hard to separate work from home life, so it’s important to have ways of relaxing and unwinding. Otherwise you’ll simply burnout and not be able to do anything! I love walking my dog and binge-watching trash TV on Netflix, and it keeps me from being constantly worried about work!
Comments
Neel - Psychiatrist commented on :
Hi lovely question. I knew it would be hard at times as I knew family and friends who were doctors. I guess I would have loved to know just how important having hobbies and outside interests are, as these will see you through the really hard times. If you have skills or play an instrument, never let go of these skills. It’s important to know how to handle uncertainty and stress, as these will be in abundance in a career in medicine. Some people have mentors who guide them through their career. I wish I had one earlier. The other thing is that you will make mistakes like I did. Lots of them. But don’t beat yourself up with this. It’s the best way to learn. As the butler said to Batman: Why do we fall? So we learn to pick ourselves up again. I actually failed an exam in medical school. That was hard at the time, but I’ve since come out of it and now write the exam questions. Never give up!
Home Treatment Team commented on :
I would have liked to know that having a qualification in a different language e.g. French, Spanish, Italian etc. would be really useful. We often have to work with patients and their carers who do not speak English. I dropped my languages at school as at the time i did not know i would enter university and at the age of 13 when i choose my subjects. I was more into art, history, home economics as it was called when i was at school. I was not able to really see what the future held for me and how relevant my specific subjects would be for my learning so this is why i had to return to college in my 20’s to get the relevant qualifications i needed, Maths, English, Biology, Sociology.