AMA VICDOC Summer 2024 - Magazine - Page 33
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THE GENERATIONAL UNDERPAYMENT OF
DOCTORS, THE LACK OF RECOGNITION
OF THEIR TIME AND THE IMPACT OF
THIS IS STILL NOT WELL RECOGNISED.
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As a junior doctor, you can feel like you
don't belong anywhere, and you’re not in
a very safe or stable place in terms of job
security. Acceptance into specialty training
programs is incredibly competitive, and you
don’t want to do anything or say anything
that will make things more difficult for
your career progression. So, we bear the
brunt of being at the bottom of a still
very hierarchical system, where juniors are
sometimes pushed around and expected to
work extra hours, and to make medicine
your entire life. Going through the junior
years in this way is almost considered a rite
of passage, and that's how the system has
run for years and years.
IT TOOK A LOT OUT OF ME. I SPENT LITERALLY
HUNDREDS OF HOURS PULLING TOGETHER
EVIDENCE AND PREPARING FOR TRIAL.
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The timing was very unfortunate. I was due
to sit my specialty exams about six weeks
after the trial, and the trial preparation
and then of course being on trial – being
cross-examined in front of your peers – was
incredibly draining. It's only this year, now
that it’s all behind me and I’ve been able
to refocus, that I've been able to pass those
exams. I had hoped it would only take me
one year and one attempt, but it’s taken me
three years and four attempts, and a much
more money than I would like to have spent
on that. I’ve had to overcome a strong sense
of failure and self-doubt.
MEDICINE NEEDS TO BETTER REPRESENT
AND REFLECT US AS A SOCIETY.
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People often assume I’m a nurse because of
my gender. It’s not offensive that they think
I'm a nurse, it’s offensive that they think
MY CLASS ACTION AND THE OTHER CLASS
I'm a nurse because I’m a woman. This is
ACTIONS IS SOMETHING MORE POWERFUL
another systemic issue we need to overcome;
THAN US AS INDIVIDUALS.
women are just as able and entitled to be
doctors as men. We also need to normalise
I had a lot of support from ASMOF and
seeing people of colour practicing and
AMAV, and from the lawyers involved and
the department I was working in at the time, leading in medicine. You really can’t assume
anyone’s role because of their gender or
which is the main reason I was able to go
ahead. It wasn’t ever really about the money, cultural identity; those days are gone.
but about principle – what’s right.
I realised early on that I was not as affected
as some of my colleagues; unaccredited
surgical registrars seem quite affected by
this. No-one should be overworked to the
point of burnout or go unrecognised and
unremunerated because the system or their
seniors don’t consider the essential work that
they’re doing is important or necessary.
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