Haven’t checked my student loans in a year - it’s now over £100,000!
Interest rates > my repayments
Background:
- 6 years of Medical School in London
- Parents are low income earners
I’ll be fully supporting the next set of
#JuniorDoctorsStrikes
, we want
#FullPayRestoration
Me, as a fairly competent Paediatric ST2, still feeling out of my depth in certain situations at work…
Meanwhile, a brand new PA says they no longer feel out of their depth after one day at their Paediatric Induction for Junior Doctors…
Make it make sense.
I’ve had such a frustrating week but this genuinely made me shed a happy tear 🥲 thank you!
It’s the small wins, that keep us going when things are tough.
#MedTwitter
#NHS
#juniordoctor
Just to add:
I’ve now been working and repaying for 2.5 years.
My repayments have not made a dent at all.
And I owe more than I did than when I graduated, due to interest rates.
Absurd. Absolutely absurd.
I think Medical Schools should teach all medical students how to perform ultrasound guided cannulation.
Would it be welcomed? Yes.
Would it be feasible? Maybe.
Where does the yearly £9250 uni fees go? No idea.
Medical students of today are going through more chaotic life changing events than we ever did.
I will not stand for people generalising and saying that medical students are mostly lazy or disinterested.
They’re trying their best.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Thoroughly enjoyed the film, but I think the songs on the soundtrack have stolen my heart.
Personal fave: Alone- Burna Boy
5 weeks until changeover day, and 4 weeks until most new FY1 doctors start on their inductions…
Here are some FY1/FY2/Foundation Doctor tips: Maintaining your mental health edition 😎
I know the focus currently is on PAs being paid more than junior doctors… but the real crime is PAs being paid way more than our nursing colleagues.
You can argue there are different skill sets etc but honestly, hospitals wouldn’t run without nurses.
Outcome 6, ARCP ✅
2 years of the Foundation Training Programme ✅
Here’s a thread of things/reflections that I wish someone told me before starting as a new doctor
#FY1
#FY2
#FoundationProgramme
1/10🧵
FY2 ✅
Last ever adult medicine/surgery shift ✅
Ready for a full month of travelling, before starting Paediatrics training in September 🥳
I will, unapologetically, be posting my travels + food over the next few weeks 🤣
See you in a few days, Malaysia 🇲🇾
Extremely happy to have won a RCPCH Foundation Doctor Prize!
Forever grateful for amazing mentors 😊
Thank you
@RCPCHtweets
for a great
#RCPCH22
conference.
2022 Foundation Doctor Prize 🤝 2019 Medical Student Prize
Can’t wait to start as a Paeds ST1 in September! 🥳
Big news!
Out of programme approved ✅
I’m going to be studying a Professional Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (DTM&H) at
@LSHTM
this September!
I’m unbelievably excited and super happy 😊 can’t wait to start!!!
Late 20s/start of 30s really is wild when your mates are either moving abroad, getting married, having kids, or all three…
And you’re stuck wondering what to have for dinner at 9pm after an on call shift 😅
@BettyJa08291909
@AllisonPearson
Bit racist - you can’t assume that those Chinese applicants were all foreign.
I’m British, born and raised in England, hold a UK passport and studied Medicine in London…
But I guess you’ll say I’m foreign and Chinese, based on my skin, hair colour and facial features?
1/2
🚨 ARCP PASSED! Outcome 1! 🚨
Going to be an ST3!!!
Absolutely love my friends and colleagues who have helped me through my ST2 year, and I’m so thankful!!! My MSF omggg 🥺🥺🥺
And I’ll be off to
@LSHTM
for my OOP in September!!! So excited for the DTM&H course 😃😃😃
Came home to the best news!
I’ve won a RCPCH Foundation Doctor Prize, and I’ll be going to Liverpool for this year’s RCPCH Conference! 😍
Thank you
@RCPCHtweets
and
@eastpaeds
🥰
#PaedsRocks
How the surgical F1/2 feels when they’ve got to blitz through ward round, re-write drug charts, do pain and fluid reviews, help with clerking, order investigations and scans, do cannulas and bloods… and now help prescribe for PAs while the surgical PA is scrubbed up in theatre.
Oh grow the fuck up
Walking to work for my night shift and a group of young men start going “herro ching ching ching chong ching”
Get a grip of yourselves
Rather than spamming you all with a lot of copy+pasting, here are my top 10 Paediatric ST1 interview tips (without divulging any specific information of course!)
A 🧵 from your friendly neighbourhood tea loving, gig-going Paediatric ST1 doctor 😄
#PaedsRocks
#ChoosePaediatrics
Congrats to everyone who’s got an interview for Paediatrics! Well done 😁😁 it’s the best specialty!
Happy to help with interview tips, DMs open!
#PaedsRocks
#ChoosePaediatrics
Just a reminder that doctors in the UK are actually ridiculously cheap to employ/highly underpaid for their worth compared to other countries in the West.
That doctor (FY1) working hard over the weekend/nights and is usually the first one you see on the ward…? £14-15 an hour.
“I looked into medical school. I didn’t want to be a doctor. I didn’t feel that I could commit myself to studying a number of years.” - PA in the video
If I was their patient, I’d be worried to see them.
Working in healthcare = a lifetime of learning. Zero shortcuts.
@EthersonKevin
@BMA_JuniorDocs
Junior doctors also have families and childcare commitments… with partners who are also working…
Or are we only allowed to have families once we’re consultants?
@BettyJa08291909
@AllisonPearson
Also, universities have very tough selection criteria for courses like Medicine - perhaps other candidates just performed better at interview?
There are so many amazing candidates from all backgrounds and ethnicities who don’t make it through the first time.
2/2
What I didn’t envisage when I entered Medical School 10 years ago: 100k loans/debt, 25% lower pay, worse working conditions and longer NHS waiting times than ever.
Voting Yes ✅ for Pay Restoration
#TellThemAgain
Haven’t checked my student loans in a year - it’s now over £100,000!
Interest rates > my repayments
Background:
- 6 years of Medical School in London
- Parents are low income earners
I’ll be fully supporting the next set of
#JuniorDoctorsStrikes
, we want
#FullPayRestoration
😂 didn’t think they could sink any lower!
Lying to the general public, even though doctors having all the pay slips to prove that these “mean figures” are blatant lies and much higher than what we actually earn.
ST2 over and out!
Last ever *paediatric* SHO night shift done!
Next up: ST3 OOP DTM&H at LSHTM, and then ST3 neonates 🫡
… the next time I’ll have a Paediatric night shift will be as a Registrar in ST4 😳
Can we talk about how frustrating the final 4 months of F2 is?
It’s just 4 months of waiting for it to end!
Coz you’re either waiting for your glorious F3 to start, or if you’ve gotten into your dream training programme, then it’s another long wait for that to start!
Extremely excited to have my work on Paediatric vancomycin levels up on display tomorrow at
#RCPCH24
conference!
Come find me at the
@bpaiig
section - poster boards 10-28!
This might just be my favourite ever results section I’ve made for a poster 😊
Hopefully 2023 ‘suits’ me better than 2022
P.S. I’m actually going to be working night shifts tonight, so I’ll be celebrating in spirit and living vicariously through you all.
Happy New Year, pals!
In the peak of COVID, I worked in ICU as a Junior Doctor for £13.54/hr
After 6 years of medical school, ~£100k debt, GMC/Exam/Training course fees… I earned less than what I did for tutoring GCSE Maths (£15/hr)
We want
#FullPayRestoration
Solidarity with
#JuniorDoctorsStikes
Haven’t checked my student loans in a year - it’s now over £100,000!
Interest rates > my repayments
Background:
- 6 years of Medical School in London
- Parents are low income earners
I’ll be fully supporting the next set of
#JuniorDoctorsStrikes
, we want
#FullPayRestoration
@Telegraph
Apparently, doctors can’t take annual leave that they’ve booked months in advance, prior to the announcement of a second round of strikes?
🙃 so you want us to be underpaid and overworked?
Fantastic, why won’t you give us another 100x claps instead 🙃
Am I starting Paediatrics training in the best deanery? 😜 Love the goodie bag, and I’ll try my best to keep this cactus growing!🌵
Huge thanks to
@WMPaeds
trainee committee, head of school + many others, for putting on a fantastic induction for us at
@Bham_Childrens
😊
@dannyjnwong
It’s very frustrating, hearing interviews and videos like this.
This attitude undermines other professions.
How can a PA be allowed to work in a GP practice as a new graduate?
Baffling.
@DrNeenaJha
As a Paeds trainee, who has done two neonatal jobs so far, I genuinely don’t know what a PA can add to the neonatal team that a neonatal nurse, ANNP, midwife or doctor can’t - all of which are technically independent practitioners, whereas PAs are dependent/need to be supervised
Today’s the day!
My oral presentation on “The Impact of Intranasal Phototherapy on the symptoms of allergic rhinitis in adolescents” will be in Hall Y 05 + 06 this afternoon!
#EAACI2023
#EAACICongress2023
My conference FOMO is over 😁
Very excited to have the opportunity to do an oral presentation at
#EAACI2023
#EAACICongress2023
!
I’ll be presenting some great work from the Paediatric Team at Sandwell
@SWBHnhs
on Intranasal Phototherapy use in Adolescents with Allergic Rhinitis
Imagine a medical job where you can work regular hours, stay in the hospital/practice/specialty you want to stay in, receive teaching and training, and really grow into the team because you’re a more permanent staff member?
Oh wait.
Monday Morning but pure, chaotic, fire sign energy ♐️ :
- Finished another set of busy night shifts 😴
- Last minute flights booked and will now be swiftly making my way to the airport ✈️
- Will be unapologetically posting holiday + food pictures throughout the week ahead 📸
During my weekend shifts yesterday - 4 out of the 5 doctors in our team are non-white / family had immigrated to the UK.
The NHS is only still functional + working, because of immigration.
We didn’t steal any jobs. We worked hard to get the qualifications to do these jobs.
Heard it’s
#NationalDoctorsDay
so here’s a throwback to working in Intensive Care during the 2020-21 COVID Pandemic.
Heavily overgrown hair, with a heavily saddened heart. It was a tough time.
Being a doctor is not an easy job, but it’s the only job I can see myself doing.
@bmilk831
4 years of student loans for uni fees, and I think my final 2 years were covered by NHS Bursary
Also needed 6 years of maximum living cost loans because my parents are low income earners, and without the loans + part time work, I wouldn’t have been able to live/survive.
My parents celebrated their wedding anniversary a few months ago, and I took a moment to dig through old photo albums.
This is possibly one of my favourite pictures that I have of them - they had their reception in China Town, London, in the late 1980s.
BEYOND EXCITED RIGHT NOW
Paeds ST1 employment contract/details and rota template came through today 😄
Paeds rota 😍:
9am-5pm NWDs
1 in 3.8 weekends
14 nights
12 zero days
For context… Current F2 Gen Surg rota 🤢:
8am-5pm NWDs
1 in 3.0 weekends
22 nights
18 zero days
First weekend on call as a Paeds ST1 ✅ Busy + lots of learning!
My personal highlights:
- Being told how to win in Lego Star Wars + how Darth Maul is the best
- Being shown a paper airplane, and asked to fly it
- Patient saying “It’s Maxx!” whenever I walked past
#PaedsRocks
Two more night shifts and then that’s 6 months of Gen Paeds done!
I’ve had the best start to Paeds training and I can’t thank everyone enough! Amazing colleagues and supportive seniors 😍
Next stop: Neonates 👶🏻
Thank you
@MSEHospitals
and the A&E department at Southend Hospital for seeing my dad really quickly overnight - we’re extremely grateful!
Also glad to see consultants supporting and covering for Junior Doctors during the strikes.
Huge thanks!!! ❤️
In 2022, a conversation with my parents ended with “you can change career, we’ll support you”
Been thinking lots about the good, bad & ugly on 2+ years of pandemic working as an NHS junior doctor… here’s my personal journey as a thread
Key
#MedTwitter
message: you’re not alone
Bought some new lanyards in preparation for starting Paediatrics training 😄
Just need to get a new pack of stickers, some more pens and a paediatric stethoscope… any suggestions for a new 🩺 ,
#MedTwitter
?
Abstract has been accepted for
@RCPCHtweets
2024 Conference!
Excited to share my work with
@ELucy500
,
@PortmanBlueBoy
and
@CUH_NHS
/
@PaediatCam
- looking specifically at the attainment of target vancomycin level in Paediatric patients!
Very excited to attend the conference 😄
@BellaRoscetti
Exception report! If you’re working beyond contracted hours, then exception report and they can either pay you or offer you time off in lieu - I would advise payment as organising time off in lieu is a pain.
I took a half day of annual leave this morning, and it’s reminded me that I love “twilight” shifts
Being able to:
- wake up later
- make a nutritious breakfast/brunch
- have time for admin and exercise
Makes a huge difference and I feel much more productive
Alright within the first ten minutes of arriving in Sheffield, some idiot says “why did you make covid-19, go home”
I challenged what he said and he said he didn’t say anything.
What the actual fuck. Racism and Asian hate is still rife.
I’m pissed off.
Spent some time at work today talking to a patient about Pokémon, while I was taking their blood.
The smile on their face when I went back later with some Pokémon colouring sheets!! Absolutely priceless.
Honestly, Paediatrics is such a wholesome specialty 🥹
Postponed
@StGeorgesUni
MBBS Graduation 👨🏻🎓
Dr. Maxx King Yau Chin MBBS BSc (Hons)
2 years of doctoring ✅
Off to Birmingham for Paediatrics Specialty Training in September!
Thankful for family and friends who have supported me throughout 🥰
#SGUL
#GeorgesForLife
Almost 3 months into my neonatal job, and I can’t lie… it’s growing on me.
Babies are unbelievably cute.
Protocols and guidelines are clear.
Procedures are cool.