there is a lot more to being a medical registrar than looking after patients. actually, when i think about it, thats usually the easiest part of my job. most patients have relatively straightforward problems: exacerbation of a chronic illness; some sort of infection; social issues; or simply being old and having less physiological reserve. it's really a matter of triaging, writing up the drug chart or making a referral to allied health, and seeing what happens.
what i find to be most challenging is actually having to manage people. striking a balance between leading and learning from my consultants; supervising my residents to make sure they are safe, yet giving them a degree of independence to learn how to think for themselves; teaching the students while trying to study myself.
lots of my friends and colleagues are thrilled to be registrars, and hate the idea of doing resident jobs, the mundane tasks of rewriting drug charts and putting in iv cannulas, and the lack of freedom to make treatment decisions. well, i dont mind the mindless tasks - i find them quite satisfying, actually - and i find that i have a great deal of influence on my patients' inpatient experience even if i dont get the final say on how their medical problems are treated. on top of all that, being a resident is far less stressful than being a registrar! so, yeah, i am looking forward to being a resident again when i return to melbourne...
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