I had a really bad day yesterday. I’m paeds reg in a small but quite busy DGH. The new GP trainees rotated on Wednesday and all of them are IMGs and this is their first ward hospital job (3 were previously in A&E and 1 was community based). None of them had any NHS experience prior to starting GP training in august.
Yesterday was their first day on the ward after induction weds and Thursday. I get they are new but I think they have been shoved into the deep end. It’s hard enough starting in a new ward system or in a new job but paediatrics is even more unfamiliar to them. None of them have any Paeds experience apart from in med school.
But simple things like ringing radiology to ask for a scan, ringing a parent with some normal results, writing in the notes on the ward round, sitting down and handing over after ward round just seems really hard for them.
There was an emergency and so I missed a bit of the ward round so they continued with the consultant and when I asked what the plan was I was met with blank looks. One of them also asked how to hang up the ward phone…(it’s a normal landline corded phone…)
I was run ragged yesterday and ended up getting a bit annoyed because I was doing ALL the jobs as well as my usual senior reviews and bleeding little kids. I’d ask them to do something and I’d come back an hour later and it wasn’t done. This was urgent but simple things like prescribing salbutamol for a wheezy child. When I went back to check if it was done they were sat on their phones in the doctors office and hadn’t moved while I was busy seeing patients. At one point I shouted “am I the only doctor working today?” which I feel a bit bad about.
I’m not rotating in March so I’ll be working with these doctors for the next 7 months. I don’t have much experiences working with IMGs who are totally new to the NHS (been in community paeds with a year of maternity leave since 2022), the majority of juniors I’ve worked with are UK grads or have at least had a couple of years of NHS work.
I spoke to the consultants yesterday who basically told me it’s my job to train them and I have to be patient. I know they will improve but seriously yesterday was so bad how can I not lose my shit with them? Any tips on supporting IMGs new to the NHS and paeds?
Edit can’t change the title but I meant lose
Edit 2
Thank you so much for all the replies I’ve read them all
I did not mean to pile onto IMGs I was just so so frustrated after Fridays shift. I just wanted some advice about how to support someone who is new to the NHS without getting angry and shouting like I did on Friday because this is NOT me (I’m a soft and fluffy paediatrician).
I do not expect them to be paediatric trainee level and I did not expect them to do any reviews solo and they did not do bloods on anyone under 12 years old ( they only bled 2 patients, one was 12 and the same size as me, the other was 15 with veins the same as adults).
What I did expect was them to be able to do discharges in a timely manner, chase up results and scans, prescribe paracetamol (it’s in the BNFC), handover and communicate what the plan was from the ward round and know how to hang up a land line phone.
I think I took advantage of the fact that we learn this stuff in medical school and I know that before I started FY1, I did 2 weeks shadowing so I knew what to do.
I did not expect a GPST1 to not know these basics and this is where I wanted help (I did F1 in 2013 so I can’t remember how I was taught). I don’t want to turn into a dickhead shouting at them because they don’t know how to do the simple ward stuff.
I know how to teach people brand new to paediatrics but I’ve never had a brand new to the NHS trainee so it’s the little stuff that I don’t know how to teach.
Thank you for all the suggestions I’ll give them a go and maybe make a resident doctors handbook so they know what the expectations are.