What happened to caring?
BMJ 2012; 345 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e6485 (Published 26 September 2012) Cite this as: BMJ 2012;345:e6485- Des Spence, general practitioner, Glasgow
- destwo{at}yahoo.co.uk
I stubbed out my cigarette and fell into sleep, and into my recurring dream of drowning. Sweating, I jerked awake, my pager bleeping, its wicked green numbers flashing the number of the ward I had just left. I bleeped.⇑
The unspoken intention of residency was to systematically break you—a compassionless humiliation to eradicate any foolish arrogance of youth, to ingrain emotional detachment, to aspire for nothing more than just to sink or swim. It was hard to “care” in this professional darkness. I clung to caring; lived by the junior …
Log in
Log in using your username and password
Log in through your institution
Subscribe from £173 *
Subscribe and get access to all BMJ articles, and much more.
* For online subscription
Access this article for 1 day for:
£38 / $45 / €42 (excludes VAT)
You can download a PDF version for your personal record.