02 FYi


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Welcome News


END OF SEVEN-DAY NIGHT Welcome to your FYi


EVER wondered what proportion of medical graduates in the 1960s were female compared to today? Find out this, and when they are predicted to overtake their male counterparts in numbers, on page 6. My article highlights the achievements of the first female medical students and the contributions of women doctors past and present. It also considers what the rise of women in medicine means for the future of the profession. Continuing the tradition of


inspirational women in medicine is Dr Kate Granger. Diagnosed with terminal cancer three years ago, she launched the now hugely successful #hellomynameis campaign encouraging doctors to introduce themselves to patients. She tells us about her work on page 12. Core procedures are a


challenge for all F1 doctors and on page 4 foundation doctor Anli


COVER PHOTOGRAPH: JOHNSTON PRESS


Zhou offers tips on arterial blood gases, blood cultures and intravenous infusions. Prescribing raises a number of risks for new doctors and on page 10 MDDUS medical adviser Dr Naeem Nazem offers advice on getting it right. Mistakes, or at least the happy


accidents of serendipity, have played a huge part in shaping medicine as we know it. Allan Gaw explores the value of sometimes getting it wrong on page 5. Our case study on page 14 looks at mistakes made in the care of a 95-year-old man suffering palpitations. And it’s more than just childbirth that makes up the exciting field of obstetrics and gynaecology. We look at what it’s like to work in this cutting edge specialty in our careers article on page 8.


• Dr Anne Parfitt-Rogers Editor


SHIFTS FOR JUNIORS JUNIOR doctors will no longer be expected to work seven night shifts in a row from February, the Scottish Government has announced. The move follows a sustained campaign by the family of Dr Lauren Connelly who was killed in a road accident in 2011 after working long hours. Currently, the


European Working Time Directive limits the average working week for doctors to 48 hours. However this can be averaged out over a month, meaning some still work more than 48 hours in a single week. Health Secretary Alex Neil said this practice was “not in the spirit of the law” and called for seven-day night shifts to be phased out. Figures show that one per cent of rotas in Scotland schedule trainees to work seven full night shifts in a row. In addition, the way junior doctors’ working hours are monitored will be simplified and, by 2016, the government wants no junior doctor to work more than seven day shifts in a row. Staff should also be given access to appropriate rest facilities. Mr Neil said: “I am quite clear that no junior doctors in Scotland


should have to work seven nights in a row and I am committed to ending this practice where, on occasion, it does exist by February next year.


“We expect boards to observe not simply the letter, but also the


spirit of the law.” External assessments will be introduced to ensure health boards


comply with the new rules. At the time of Dr Lauren Connelly’s death, her father Brian told the


Herald newspaper that she had worked 10 days in a row after starting her job at Inverclyde Royal Hospital and had completed another 12-day run of more than 107 hours in the weeks before she died. He believes his daughter was suffering from accumulated fatigue at the time of her fatal crash. The BMA’s Scottish Junior Doctors Committee chairman Dr David


EDITOR: Dr Anne Parfitt-Rogers


ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Joanne Curran


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FYi is published by The Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, Registered in Scotland No 5093 at Mackintosh House, 120 Blythswood Street, Glasgow G2 4EA. The MDDUS is not an insurance company. All the benefits of membership of MDDUS are discretionary as set out in the Memorandum and Articles of Association.


ALL TRAINEES FOUND JOBS


ALL trainee doctors waiting to find jobs have been allocated a post, the UKFPO has confirmed. The remaining 118 reserve list applicants for the 2014 foundation


programme starting in August secured a place in the second round of allocations on June 26, a month earlier than expected. It was confirmed in October that the foundation programme was


oversubscribed for the fourth year in a row, with 235 juniors on the reserve list. UKFPO National Director Professor Derek Gallen said he was


“delighted” at the early allocations that meant all applicants would be ready to start their programmes in August.


Reid said the move was “welcome progress” but added: “Many junior doctors still work a combination of both day and night shifts which means they can be working up to 90 hours a week. It will be a challenge… to achieve the target to end long stretches of day shifts.”


PHOTO: RON CATHRO


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