What Are You Worth
What are you worth?
Monday, 26 November 2007
Responder Rant by Bianca Felix
I am discovering how the other half lives.
I am a psychiatry trainee working in the role of a physician.
On the first day - as ward round seemed to go on forever - I was vividly reminded about why I did not choose to pursue physician training! But then a funny thing happened. The consultant acknowledged that I had several years of experience behind me, and treated me almost as a peer.
That’s right, I am considered a senior member of staff! Not some lowly doctor who is still training, and who has to be accommodated because a service needs to be provided.
For better or worse, the position is not accredited so, for six months, there are no training hoops to jump through and I am free just to be a good doctor. It’s actually quite liberating!
I am working as a locum so I finally feel like I am being paid what I am worth. Which means I am motivated to do as good a damn job as I can! I can actually say “I am being paid enough for this shit” - when was the last time you could say that?
Public hospitals should remember that you get what you pay for.
If we were good enough to get into Medicine, then we were good enough to get into Law or Engineering. I am 5+ years out of medical school. According to seek.com.au’s salary centre, at 5 years out of Law or Engineering, I could easily be commanding a regular salary approaching or exceeding 100,000 per year.
Hah! I’d like to see public health services remunerating their “junior” doctors so well! They only survive financially because we are an altruistic, good natured bunch. (Which is why we avoided Engineering - and certainly Law! – in the first place)
Compounding the insult, looking though locum ads recently I saw that an ED registrar, on day shifts, could command a higher daily rate than a Psych consultant! What is that about?!
So being adequately financially recompensed is an important part of the experience. The implicit respect is the other aspect.
Now, I am very aware that I have landed on my feet and am working for a particularly good organization; quite probably, most physician registrar jobs are as equally demeaning as psychiatry registrar jobs.
But, having tasted this life, can I go back?
Perhaps this is what life as an Advanced Trainee is like? Or Principal Registrar? And yet, I have come to this job as a relative novice and I have been accorded a respect that has been sorely lacking in much of my training experience to date.
Psychiatry services are struggling to attract and retain trainees. After tasting life beyond the fishbowl, I am seriously considering whether I want to return. I love the specialty, but is that enough?
Should we all put up with crappy conditions simply because we are good-natured, altruistic and interested in helping patients suffering from psychiatric illnesses?
Are we worth more than that?