Defending the profession

Defending the profession

Interns should be proud they are joining a profession that has such a profound and important impact on people’s lives and it’s up to the profession to stand up to attacks that would suggest otherwise. 

IN JANUARY, we welcome interns as the newest members of the medical profession. While many aspects of internship have changed for the better, the fundamentals remain the same. Internship is the gateway through which the next generation of doctors gain the wisdom, skills, and expertise of those who have come before them.  

Every year, I get to speak at Orientation sessions across the State and I always start by saying what I believe, which is that they have joined the most exceptional profession, a profession in which they will have the chance to change not only the lives of the patient in front of them but influence the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of people. I remind them that doctors are respected, trusted and influential.   

However, this may not feel as true today as it once was. As we discuss in this edition, it feels like doctors are under attack. Undermining trust and respect in doctors is not only distressing for medical professionals, it has real-life implications – as we can see from events in the UK.

As an Association, we have been vigilant in defending the profession, in standing up when the profession is attacked. As doctors, we want everyone to be considerate of the profession and equally defensive.   

One of the most concerning aspects of these events is ‘othering,’ in which certain segments of the profession are called out and demonised. High profile doctors, cosmetic doctors, those who have billed Medicare inappropriately. In some instances, those doctors have done the wrong thing and have brought the profession into disrepute. However, the overall tactic of othering – of “well, not you of course, but them,” undermines the whole. The most recent example of this was the suggestion in the HSU attacks that they were targeting locums, not doctors. While this claim is false in any event, the move to start “othering” locums is further evidence of the insidious nature of this campaign. Doctors locum for many reasons: burnout, desire to support rural communities, flexibility, and because we have an industrial system that allows for modern terms and conditions if you are a locum, but not if you live and work in a community.

We can’t control what others say about the profession, but we can control how we respond and how we stand together. This is why I will be encouraging our newest members to stand together and to be proud of the profession they are now part of.