Sunday, August 29, 2004
Earl Grey
Currently feeling : miserable
I'm doing 3 12-hour shifts in a row at a major london hospital.
Last night was a strange experience. The surgical SHO was an ex-secondary-school classmate of mine, which was pleasantly but not completely surprising, since I discovered during my last locum that he was working there.
The medical SHO turned out to be one of my long-lost debating juniors from secondary school, and while we were doing the brief catch-up thingie, he asked me if I knew LT's sister, who's also working at the hospital as a medical house officer. (which was news to me.)
One of the other A&E locums was a medical schoolmate of mine, who's waiting to fly over to the US of A to complete his surgical training and earn a masters at the same time - he'll do it too, he was always the most brilliant of us all, crippled somewhat in the land of the English by his less than perfect grasp of the language. I'm sure he'll shrug off those fetters and shine in america through sheer intelligence and diligence. He calls it "the last leg". I'm sure the truth is it's his first step on the path to glory.
Bugger it. Everyone else is on a rotation except moi, and not for want of trying either.
So far everyone has said "you interview really well... you were the next in line for the job, but there were only so many places."
At least at my last interview (100% business, 0% faff, point-blank direct questions with none of that "how are you today?" baloney) they were honest : "you interviewed brilliantly, very sensible, very mature beyond your level as a very junior doctor, but without your part Is you were at a distinct disadvantage to the other candidates. We'd have given you the job if you had your exam." (WHAAAT. THEN WHY SHORTLIST ME?!?)
That and the other candidates always seem to be fourth year SHOs (hence my "juniority" in a field that's meant to be for "new" surgical trainees) who have done plastics, ENT, gen surg, ortho, cardiothoracic, neurosurg... which makes you wonder why the heck they're even applying for BSTs. My heart always sinks when I speak to the other guys pre-interview because it's obvious who's going to get the job... the guys with the list of ten thousand previous SHO jobs who sound like they can disassemble and reassemble a human being in thirty seconds or under invariably win top billing with the interviewers.
Why even call it a Basic Surgical Traineeship anyhow? Shouldn't it be an Intermediate Surgical Traineeship if candidates are expected to have completed their exams and have at least two years operating experience?
Sigh. And then here I am working a shift in a london hospital and finding all my ex-peers clustered in it. (doing what one of the neurosurgical SHOS called "glorified, lowly-paid GP work. She has a point, too, even if she was just kidding around with me. sigh.)
Which is why I'm flying home in "defeat" come november, I guess. Nobody wuvs me... sniff.
It didn't help that LT's sister just happens to be Her cousin either.
Strange little world we live in. Sometimes it feels like I'm being battered about the head by "coincidence".
*rant mode off... back to work*
I'm doing 3 12-hour shifts in a row at a major london hospital.
Last night was a strange experience. The surgical SHO was an ex-secondary-school classmate of mine, which was pleasantly but not completely surprising, since I discovered during my last locum that he was working there.
The medical SHO turned out to be one of my long-lost debating juniors from secondary school, and while we were doing the brief catch-up thingie, he asked me if I knew LT's sister, who's also working at the hospital as a medical house officer. (which was news to me.)
One of the other A&E locums was a medical schoolmate of mine, who's waiting to fly over to the US of A to complete his surgical training and earn a masters at the same time - he'll do it too, he was always the most brilliant of us all, crippled somewhat in the land of the English by his less than perfect grasp of the language. I'm sure he'll shrug off those fetters and shine in america through sheer intelligence and diligence. He calls it "the last leg". I'm sure the truth is it's his first step on the path to glory.
Bugger it. Everyone else is on a rotation except moi, and not for want of trying either.
So far everyone has said "you interview really well... you were the next in line for the job, but there were only so many places."
At least at my last interview (100% business, 0% faff, point-blank direct questions with none of that "how are you today?" baloney) they were honest : "you interviewed brilliantly, very sensible, very mature beyond your level as a very junior doctor, but without your part Is you were at a distinct disadvantage to the other candidates. We'd have given you the job if you had your exam." (WHAAAT. THEN WHY SHORTLIST ME?!?)
That and the other candidates always seem to be fourth year SHOs (hence my "juniority" in a field that's meant to be for "new" surgical trainees) who have done plastics, ENT, gen surg, ortho, cardiothoracic, neurosurg... which makes you wonder why the heck they're even applying for BSTs. My heart always sinks when I speak to the other guys pre-interview because it's obvious who's going to get the job... the guys with the list of ten thousand previous SHO jobs who sound like they can disassemble and reassemble a human being in thirty seconds or under invariably win top billing with the interviewers.
Why even call it a Basic Surgical Traineeship anyhow? Shouldn't it be an Intermediate Surgical Traineeship if candidates are expected to have completed their exams and have at least two years operating experience?
Sigh. And then here I am working a shift in a london hospital and finding all my ex-peers clustered in it. (doing what one of the neurosurgical SHOS called "glorified, lowly-paid GP work. She has a point, too, even if she was just kidding around with me. sigh.)
Which is why I'm flying home in "defeat" come november, I guess. Nobody wuvs me... sniff.
It didn't help that LT's sister just happens to be Her cousin either.
Strange little world we live in. Sometimes it feels like I'm being battered about the head by "coincidence".
*rant mode off... back to work*
