Intended for healthcare professionals

Letters

Managing doctors and health care

BMJ 2000; 320 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.320.7235.648 (Published 04 March 2000) Cite this as: BMJ 2000;320:648

We do not value teamwork in junior doctors

  1. Richard Moore (richard.moore6@virgin.net), specialist registrar in general surgery.
  1. Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 7ET
  2. 11549 Cherrybrook Lane, Boynton Beach, FL 33437, USA

    EDITOR—In the editorial by Richard Smith, “Managing the clinical performance of doctors,” one of the closing remarks, “We need a culture that… values teamwork,” struck me as particularly true.1 As I progress through my specialist registrarship in general surgery I am noticing time and again how, as a profession, we are unaware that we are ignoring the value of teamwork.

    As the hours of senior house officers and junior house officers are reduced, as more and more “trust” grade doctors are employed to fill in the gaps on middle grade rotas, and as senior house officers are cross covering many specialties during a night on call, it is becoming less common for me as a senior specialist registrar to be on call with the same junior doctors regularly. This can have serious implications for how we perform as an …

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