Sink or Swim: it used to work, didn't it?

Sink or swim: it used to work, didn’t it?
This session is chaired by MLSQ Senior Vice President Dr Mark Woodrow

The Scenario

The setting is a large regional hospital in a relatively disadvantaged town.  There is difficulty attracting staff, and most positions are filled by locums, newly arrived IMG’s and rotating registrars.

A patient presents on a Friday evening, another victim of drug related gang violence.  He had been pinned to a wall by a car and sustained multiple injuries. He was resuscitated by the ED and then whisked off to theatre by the enthusiastic surgical registrar, who happened to be walking past the ED on his way home.

Unfortunately, while performing surgery, the patient deteriorated and died on the table.  This led to a Coroners notification, investigation and plenty of media attention.  All staff were interviewed by police, hospital and external investigators.

The surgical consultant says he wasn’t properly informed of the patient.  The registrar indicated that he isn’t really supervised, and just told to “get on with it”.  Rumours around the hospital are that this registrar is a bit gung-ho and overconfident.

Dr Hashim Abdeen & Dr Donna O’Sullivan in this episode cover off

• Training, supervision and performance management – what are the risks and challenges
• What trainees and supervisors want and expect
• What happens when things go wrong
• Do we support our junior doctors or throw them to the wolves if they underperform?