Dr Nick Coatsworth: Senior doctors should resist the ‘back in my day’ narrative
Dr Coatsworth says the comparisons can get in the way of supporting junior doctors.
Dr Nick Coatsworth says intergenerational comparisons — the ‘back in my day’-isms — can make it harder to address young doctors’ mental health and burnout.
The former deputy chief medical officer acknowledges he may be guilty of them.
His mind sometimes returns to when he was treating 60 patients a day at Lismore Base Hospital in 2006.
He says that drawing these comparisons is an “almost human nature response”, but it is important for supervising doctors to resist the temptation.
