Premium
Teaching on the run tips 11: the junior doctor in difficulty
Author(s) -
Lake Fiona R,
Ryan Gerard
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2005.tb07127.x
Subject(s) - respiratory medicine , citation , medical school , medicine , library science , medical education , psychology , surgery , computer science
Education Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry and School of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA. Fiona R Lake, MD, FRACP, Associate Professor in Medicine and Medical Education; also at Royal Perth Hospital. Department of Respiratory Medicine, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, WA. Gerard Ryan, MB BS, FRACP, Respiratory Physician. Reprints will not be available from the authors. Correspondence: Associate Professor Fiona R Lake, Education Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Australia, First Floor N Block, QEII Medical Centre, Verdun Street, Nedlands, WA 6009. flake@cyllene.uwa.edu.au The Medical Journal of Australia ISSN: 0025729X 7 November 2005 183 9 475-476 ©The Medical Journal of Australia 2005 www.mja.com.au Teaching on the Run “in difficulty”, “stressed” or “distressed”. Helping the “JMO in difficulty” has important flo such as optimising patient safety and care, reducing doctors and reducing the number of doctors who medicine. Despite these benefits, consultants (a often avoid addressing the problems because they: • Are embarrassed, lack the skills, and fear it may ork sh de W ing as a junior doctor is stressful — 25% of interns ow signs of “burnout” and 25% are mildly pressed. Senior doctors, as their teachers and supervisors, are in an ideal position to care for JMOs. While a small proportion (3%–7%) of JMOs in training programs are “difficult” or “problem” doctors who require the intervention of someone in authority, a higher proportion of JMOs are simply unable to cope with the stress of the job and exhibit signs of being