New doctors

It was set to be a wasted day. The postgraduate dean's office had decided that all house officer appointments in the region should be made using a regional matching plan. We had been given a list of possible candidates to interview and the date. I had to cancel my planned sessions for the whole day.

Our interviewees had all just started their final year of training. Some had been interviewed already for house officer posts elsewhere, but others had probably not had an interview since applying for medical school. They …