Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“I wanted to talk to you about something,” I said.
“Good, good. Talk away.”
“I have an idea for an offsite for all FY1 doctors.”
He stopped his scribbling, sat back in his chair, and turned to face me. He made a humming sound, his trademark alert that he was thinking. It always reminded me of Yoda.
“I want to take all twenty-five of the FY1 doctors offsite for two days. We’ll divide the program into three. First is ‘If I knew then what I know now.’ Deeply practical advice for young doctors from the people who have been there. Recently. So, I would want to involve some FY2s. What did you keep track of, how did you balance your life with studying? How did you cope with the lack of sleep, or if you were put in a morally difficult position? Chatham House rules would apply—whatever is shared in those sessions stays confidential.”
Gerry stayed silent. If he’d hated the idea, he would have told me by now. I continued.
“The next section would be dealing with each other as colleagues. A lot of effort is now put into bedside manner, but we don’t talk about how we get on with our colleagues. Year after year we get complaints from nursing and admin staff about the new doctors. We need to rub the edges off their aversion to anyone who isn’t a fellow doctor.
“And then the third and final section, the tables turn a little bit. The idea is to run the offsite when they’ve been in the job about six weeks. They’ll have gotten to grips with how the hospital works—and doesn’t work. We survey them about one change they’d like to make. And then we give it back to them—how could they fix the problem and implement a change.”
“Management consultancy for free?” Gerry asked. He nodded slowly. “I like it.”
“All of it?”
“Most of it. I think we need to refine part two. We can’t just roll in and say, ‘Foundation doctors are renowned to be arrogant, knock it off.’”
I laughed. “No, but I’d like to.”
“Maybe we do it in the context of improving their communication skills,” Gerry said. “You could come up with some tasks for them to complete in a team.”
“We could do that,” I replied.
“How are the new lot shaping up?” he asked.
I thought back to the last week I’d spent on the wards with Sutton. She was by far the strongest of the four I’d worked with. But maybe I was biased. “I’ve only worked with the four in peds and so far it’s a mixed bag.”
“I’ve heard good things about Scott. Do you agree?” Nothing passed by Gerry. He identified the stars of every year and lured many of them into a pediatric specialty without much effort.
I nodded. “Seems very capable.”
“Good. Good. And this offsite, you know I’m going to ask you about funding it all. I don’t have the budget.”
“No, but I found a hotel in Hertfordshire that would discount their rates for the NHS, and I’ve managed to fundraise the rest of it.”
Gerry chuckled. “You mean, you’re willing to write a cheque?”
I shrugged. “Maybe.” I didn’t like to talk about the money I’d made during university. It had been a fluke, and I didn’t want it to define me.
“You really are after my job, aren’t you?”
I laughed. “Absolutely not . . . until you’re ready to retire.”
“You’re a good doctor, Jacob. A good man. I just hope you don’t sacrifice everything for the job.”
“I’m fine,” I said. Gerry was always too invested in making sure all the doctors in pediatrics were settled in relationships.
“You’re not getting any younger. You want children of your own, don’t you?”
This was getting weird. “Is that a yes to the offsite if I can get it organized?”
“It’s a yes so long as you approve the content with me first. And it’s also a get-yourself-a-love-life.”
I stood. “I’ll make sure I work on both.”
If only he knew that his rising star of FY1 was the only woman I’d been interested in for a very long time.
Sixteen
Sutton
I tugged on the handle of my overnight case, pulling the unwilling wheels over the uneven surface of the hospital road. I’d never heard of foundation doctors going on an offsite before. When we’d been emailed about it, Jacob had sent the message; the sight of his name in my inbox had felt like butterflies in my vagina.
But obviously the email had been work related. I certainly hadn’t been hoping it was anything else. Absolutely not.
But an offsite? Some of those butterflies had taken up residence. They were interlopers. Squatters. They needed to be on their way. I just couldn’t shift them.
“You want me to take your case for you?” Andy, one of the FY1s who had been assigned A&E, came up behind me as I headed up the steep hill toward the car park where we’d been told to meet the coach.