I have been debating whether to write this post for the past week or so... I did not want to write something I will regret due to the high emotions I was going through. Sometime in the past week, I was asked by my registrat (a doctor who's training in a specialty) to call the clerk who books imaging scans for patients. I did and told her what I wanted and then she said I will need to speak to the consultant on call about it and that she would tranfer my call to the consultant. This is how the conversation went:
Ring, ring, ring
Consultant: Hello
Me: Good morning, Dr. So-and-so. I'm Julian and I'm a Pre-intern student working in neurology. I was informed my the booking clerk to speak to you about arranging for a scan for one of our patient.
Consultant: Why is a student calling me? How come your registrar is not calling me herself?"
At this point, I was flabbergasted. I mean does it really matter? Furthermore as I explained I was told by the booking clerk that I needed to speak to consultant.
Me: Um, my registrar asked me to call to arrange for the scan. She currently on the phone.
Consultant: Well, it's not as if I'm sitting around doing nothing.
I'm dumbfounded. What can I say? Is it really such a big deal who is the one calling you? Yes, I know I'm just a lowly medical student but I don't believe I deserve to be blasted for that. I'm doing what I'm told to do.. And really, are you that high up on your golden pedestal that you cannot even fathom speaking to a medical student? Have you forgotten that you were once a medical student yourself?
During my course, we (the lowly medical students) were told on numerous occasions about how to behave in a professional manner. Is this how we are expected to behave in the future when we become consultants? If so, that's really sad. Tell me if that is a professional behaviour. Apparently, it is well-known this consultant is just nasty to anyone who is lower in position so yes when I passed the phone over to my registrar she blasted my registrar as well. How amazing can one be? When we ranted it to other registrars and residents they apparently got it from this doctor before in the past as well. So it would seem that the issue lies with her rather than us.
It is amazing how some people who are in the position of power uses it. They literally think they are GOD or as near to GOD as possible. But to me they are just tyrants and as history has shown time and time again, all tyrants come to a terrible ending. I certainly hope so it continues to be so because this world is in need of natural justice.
Well, on a different note, I'll be done soon... Officially 9 days and I'll be flying home. I'm really looking forward to this break more than anything else because it's probably the first time in 4 years where I can really get away from medicine and will probably be the last time for the foreseeable future to come. I just got my terms for intern next year. I can't say I'm excited about having to doing vascular surgery in my first term. Why? Because I'm just starting out as an intern and would probably benefit from having more support during the first term. Unfortunately, surgery in particular vascular is a busy unit in the hospital that I'm working in. That means that for most of the time, the surgeons and registrars will be in the OT, leaving me the intern on the wards. It's just scary. But on the whole I'm looking forward to next year cos' I'm finally working (yes, properly working) and it has been quite a journey as well.
I'm mindful of the fact that I'm lucky that my parents have been so supportive of me throughout the years and while money has always been tight, my parents would try their best to make sure I have enough money to see me through. I think that I would not have chosen any differently in terms of who my parents if I had a choice. I would still choose my parents again simply because of all the sacrifices and support they have given me throughout my life.
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