NursingNotes
  • login
  • signup
  • Latest News
  • Clinical Updates
  • Professional
  • Education
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
NursingNotes
No Result
View All Result

Home > Opinion

The Junior Doctors Survival Guide written by Nurses

Your first few weeks as a Junior Doctor are going to be difficult and jam-packed.


4 August 2017
Doctor

Pixabay

You’ve survived medical school and made it ‘on to the shop floor’, this is where the real test begins.

Your first few weeks as a Junior Doctor are going to be difficult and jam-packed; a new hospital, new colleagues, new patients, and a new hospital system to figure out.



Here are ten tips that will stand you in good stead for your first day, week, month, year, and beyond. This is your Junior Doctors Survival Guide as written by Nurses;

Respect the nurses. You can come to us for advice and guidance – we will have you back – but please don’t take us for granted. We have an abundance of knowledge about our patients, the hospital and how to make stuff happen.

Each member of the team is important. Doctors, nurses, porters, physiotherapists, domestics, estates, plumbers – the hospital simply couldn’t function without them.

Don’t be a smart arse. We know and understand you have worked hard through medical school and congratulations on becoming a Doctor, but now it’s time to get to work.


Have a sense of humour. Make sure your able to have a laugh and a joke but be careful not to cross the line.

Master cannulation. I don’t just mean know how to put a cannula in – develop the skill and master it – it will stand you in good stead for the future.

Eat and drink. The list of jobs is, and always will be, almost endless. Make sure you take your breaks; eat, drink and chat to your fellow colleagues.

Show emotion. I’m not going to lie to you, it’s going to be hard – medical school hasn’t prepared you for the first few months of life as a Doctor. If you’re having an especially tough day talk to someone about it. Don’t beat yourself up for having a little cry – it happens to the best of us.


Don’t just look at the numbers. We spend 12 hours a day with our patient, we will come to you when “something just isn’t right”, we don’t know what, we can’t put our finger on it. But, we know our patients.

Your first death is hard. Expected or not, nothing can prepare you for the death of your first patient. We have all been through this. See- show emotion and How to Deal with the Death of a patient. 

Tidy up after yourself. Nothing and I mean nothing, annoys the ward staff more than a Doctor who thinks the staff are there to clean up after them. Tidy away your sharps, notes and coffee cup.

Ask for help. Your seniors are there to support you – it’s literally their job. Don’t be afraid to escalate patients or situations to them and never put yourself in a situation where you have no backup.

Admit when you simply don’t know. Making up an answer to a question can have serious consequences. If you don’t know. Say, but find out.

Try to go home on time. Look through your list – find out what can wait until tomorrow. Your downtime and social life are important too (check out our list of NHS Discounts for downtime ideas). You work to live not live to work.

The hospital at night is scary. There are fewer doctors, nurses and seniors around to support you. Call for help early and escalate appropriately.

Remember, you are part of our team. Our job is to work together in the interests of patient care. We will try to look after you, make you tea when you’re sad and, rest assured, we will tell you when you’re being an idiot.



Popular

Patient face mask in GP

GP practices can now deregister patients for ‘unrealistic service demands’

2 June 2022

student nurse staff nurse

Student nurses ‘used and abused’ on placements

13 June 2022

RCN

Nursing staff demand immediate review of ‘not fit for purpose’ Agenda for Change pay and conditions

8 June 2022

Insight

Busy A&E waiting room

‘The NHS is having its worst winter ever – and the reasons run much deeper than COVID’

28 January 2022

Hospital curtain intensive care

‘During the Downing Street Christmas Party we were caring for dying patients and forbidden from seeing family’

8 December 2021

Vaccine inPPE

‘Making vaccination compulsory for NHS frontline workers likely to make patients suffer’

19 November 2021


Related Posts

Consent withdrawal form at NHS Digital website seen on the smartphone. Form that stops NHS patient records to be shared with third parties. Stafford, England, May 26, 2021
Opinion

‘UK government plans to collect and share NHS data are hugely concerning – here’s why’

15 June 2021
Hospital Parking Charges Liverpool
Opinion

‘Scrapping free car parking is just another slap in the face for NHS workers’

2 June 2021
RCN Voice of Nursing
Opinion

‘A union is only as powerful as its members – the silent majority need to wake up’

5 May 2021
NursingNotes

© 2019 NursingNotes.co.uk

Navigate Site

  • Who are we?
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Agenda for Change Pay Scales

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Latest News
  • Clinical
  • Education
  • Health Politics
  • Opinion
  • Resources

© 2019 NursingNotes.co.uk