Time flies, doesn’t it? It feels like only yesterday I was writing a blog welcoming new FY1s to AMU, but the rotation is already coming to an end.
I hope those of you who have spent the first four months of your careers on AMU enjoyed your time with us and that at least a few of you are already thinking about coming back!
But I’ve been thinking a lot about the job our FY1s do and wanted to put some of those thoughts into words here in this blog.
You see, a few weeks ago, my consultant and I had a very productive Monday morning on AMU. Well over half the patients we saw on the ward round were potential discharges. The hospital was – as always – very full, and we were delighted that we had the chance to create some movement. After our board round, I had a rapid lunch and headed across to AECU for a very busy but equally productive afternoon. Flow was flowing. A&E was emptying (a little). It was the kind of day acute medics really like.
When I popped back to AMU later that day, I could see how hard the AMU FY1s had been working to make some of those discharges happen. Conversations with relatives, referrals to other specialties, endless admin… and yes, as always, those pesky TTAs.
This isn’t particularly glamorous work. And – unlike draining an abscess or giving an anaesthetic – the benefit to patients is not immediately obvious.
As an FY1 on AMU, you don’t see the ambulance queue shrink when you discharge a patient and clear a bed space. Nor do you see the person at home receiving care from a paramedic crew that you helped get back on the road. The enormous impact you have – not just on your own patients, but on the care of patients you may never even see – is largely invisible.
I think that’s such a shame. I do try and tell our FY1s how much we value and rely on their hard work. How crucial they are to the smoothing running of our acute service. Even when it doesn’t feel that way.
Now, none of this detracts from the very real issues resident doctors face on medical jobs across the UK: the bullying, the death of training opportunities, the shifts that run hours late with alarming regularity. These are problems we as an acute medicine community need to recognise and address. I wouldn’t want anyone to think that I think thanking the FY1s makes up for that.
I just don’t think that should stop us thanking them anyway.
So thank you to all you AMU FY1s who’ve been putting in the hard graft for the last 16 weeks. For those of you who didn’t really enjoy it, I hope your next placement gives you a different perspective and opens some different doors for you.
And for those of you who enjoyed it more than you were expecting…
Have you ever thought about a career in Acute Medicine?