Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Feature Medical Training

The firm: does it hold the answers to teamworking and morale?

BMJ 2019; 365 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l4105 (Published 10 June 2019) Cite this as: BMJ 2019;365:l4105

Rapid Response:

Re: The firm: does it hold the answers to teamworking and morale?

Firms would wither in this age of individualism.

Firms that thrived in past had a wise head leading it; collective responsibility was cherished and self sacrifice was applauded not derided.

In firms, good and bad decisions had ownership and learning from mistakes is encouraged without a sword hanging over the head.

But the firms of the past would not survive the current “age of individualism”. Now individual rights reign supreme without even a symbolic nod to group responsibility. Good firms place patient needs first and hence is incompatible with a clock watching culture.

Competing interests: No competing interests

13 June 2019
Santhanam Sundar
Consultant Oncologist
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS trust