Forums » Open clinical » General clinical » My experience of being on “Junior Doctors: Your life in their Hands”
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My experience of being on “Junior Doctors: Your life in their Hands”
posted at 6/3/2012 9:59 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 7
First: 6/3/2012 Last: 7/10/2012 |
Taking part in the BBC show “Junior Doctors: Your life in their Hands” was an opportunity that I jumped at. Even after broadcast, I think I would still make the same decision, and sign up for the show all over again. Whilst the filming could be stressful and quite intrusive at times, by and large it was good fun, and the benefits of being able to see how I am with patients, how I interact with colleagues and even how patients perceive me far outweigh any inconvenience of the filming. Being constantly asked how I felt about cases, things I’d done, and what I wanted to do in the future made me reflect on medicine in a genuine way that ePortfolio never could. I think I probably even learned a few things about myself.
However, had I been an FY1 not an FY2, I’m not so sure I would have signed up. Being an FY1 is stressful enough, you don’t know what the jobs going to entail, whether you’re going to be any good at it, and even whether you’re going to enjoy it. The added terror of having a camera crew with me on those very first days would probably have been too much. I think it would probably be enough to make even the best doctors slip up, say things they don’t mean and do things that they wouldn’t usually do.
What do people think?
Is being filmed a stress that’s too much for a junior doctor to take, or should all junior doctors spend a couple of days being filmed to help them reflect on their practice?
If you’ve got any thoughts, or just want to ask questions about the show, then it’d be great to hear from you. |
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Re: My experience of being on “Junior Doctors: Your life in their Hands”
posted at 6/3/2012 10:35 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1178
First: 19/4/2010 Last: 21/5/2013 |
Hey Ben. Thanks for posting on Doc2Doc. We have had many a discussion on here about the programme, and you and your housemates! Loads of questions! You came across very well in the show, but some of the others in the house came across.... less well. Do you think the show was entirely representative of the house? You were filmed down the pub, and having parties (arranged by Milia seemingly) - were you all best pals, or did the camera crews push you all together? Did you have any vito over what went into the show? Could you ask for things to be pulled, or was it a case of once the film was in the can, it was all fair game? Did Priya learn to park that car? Short white coats? Really? Nice. Thanks for posting!
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Re: My experience of being on “Junior Doctors: Your life in their Hands”
posted at 6/3/2012 10:38 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1178
First: 19/4/2010 Last: 21/5/2013 |
Mrs Dr DundeeChest is a GP. She wants to know - do you still want to be a paediatrician? She thinks you'd make a "lovely GP". She also wants to know how you ended up doing the show. Did you apply? Were you approached? Auditions? Interviews? Were you in it for the money? The fame? Of all the TV doctors, Mrs DundeeChest and I wanted to be most like Doogie Howser - who's your TV doctor hero?
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Re: My experience of being on “Junior Doctors: Your life in their Hands”
posted at 6/3/2012 11:00 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 7
First: 6/3/2012 Last: 7/10/2012 |
I think its fair to say that the show portrayed an exaggerated stereotype of peoples personalities and experiences on the wards. Whilst obviously everything that was shown happened and was factually accurate, what made it into the show was very dependent on what the BBC had managed to film throughout the 4 month period. They were also trying to tell a story for each of us, showing a progression from begining to end, and seemed to have a character mould that each of us fitted into. The footage they used therefore focusses around building up these characters. By and large, the portrayal of people is accurate, but the way in which things were edited gave some people, particularly Priya a slightly harder time in the final broadcast (and yes, she did manage to park the car...eventually). The BBC held full editorial rights for the show, so none of us had a veto over what went in. We could however discuss things with the editing team, and got to see the shows before they were broadcast. Most of us were very relaxed about what went in, but if anyone had a massive issue with something, then the BBC were very good about re-editing things to keep people happy. It was interesting to note the differences between the footage that they felt made good TV and what we felt would make good TV. For the main part, everyone got on well, there were certainly no problems in the house. As is apparent from the show, we're all from very different bakgrounds, and its probably unrealistic to expect us all to instantly click. Whilst we were all friendly during the filming, there are some people that I'll stay in touch with long-term, and others that I probably wont. I'm also not a fan of the white coats, but unfortunately when they surveyed the patients at C&W, they wanted to see junior doctors back in white coats again, and so thats what happened (although they are all handed in at the end of the day to be cleaned and everyone gets a new one each morning). |
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Re: My experience of being on “Junior Doctors: Your life in their Hands”
posted at 6/3/2012 11:06 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 7
First: 6/3/2012 Last: 7/10/2012 |
Unfortunately I dont think I have the patience for GP, I'd get frustrated very quickly with the worried well. I have a paeds surgery themed core surgical training job next year, so am heading off down that pathway I'm afraid. All of the FY1s and 2s at Chelsea were approached to take part in the show, and then those of us that were interested were interviewed and filmed a bit, and then they chose a group based mainly it seems on what specialties we were going to be working in. If I'm honest, I mainly took part because I find it very hard to say no to a new challenge. I thought that it would be a bit of fun, and wasn't overly concerned that anything horrific would come out of it. The 4 months of free rent was also a significant draw. With hindsight though, probably the most valuable thing to come out of it has been having my FY2 recorded for posterity. TV doctor hero has to be Mark Green from ER every time. |
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Re: My experience of being on “Junior Doctors: Your life in their Hands”
posted at 6/3/2012 11:30 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1178
First: 19/4/2010 Last: 21/5/2013 |
Ahhh.. ER. ER launched during my first year at medical school - we learnt so much medicine from that show. But perhaps we learnt more from Cardiac Arrest - which if you've not seen, it's hugely recommended! I have to say, I thought you came across the best of all the 'contestants' in the show. Where are you off to for your ST rotation? Did they ask you about the show in your interview? Did they deliberately choose 8 of you with no significant others?Or did they just not show them? I think one of the hardest things about being a (junior) doctor is trying to juggle a personal life with all the long hours etc. |
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Re: My experience of being on “Junior Doctors: Your life in their Hands”
posted at 7/3/2012 12:19 AM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 93
First: 18/3/2011 Last: 4/3/2013 |
You did come across well Ben and I wonder if any of the others felt they might have come across less well.Maybe you can't answer for them. Would you advise anyone else to do it? How do you think you will look back at this in ten years? Wasn't four months free rent a bit cheap? |
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Re: My experience of being on “Junior Doctors: Your life in their Hands”
posted at 7/3/2012 9:28 AM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 7
First: 12/7/2011 Last: 7/3/2012 |
Hey Ben, |
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Re: My experience of being on “Junior Doctors: Your life in their Hands”
posted at 7/3/2012 1:56 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2047
First: 12/3/2010 Last: 21/5/2013 |
Ben, You've told us clearly about the pressures of being the subject of a TV programme. You enjoyed it. Conversely (and not to criticise him) DrP123 (Paul? Peter? Phillip?) told us how he actively avoided being anywhere near the process. What measures were in place for participants to talk through their worries and the pressures of participation? Not every FY2 could be as bouncy about it. If someone was in trouble, what help could they seek? John |
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Re: My experience of being on “Junior Doctors: Your life in their Hands”
posted at 7/3/2012 2:50 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 7
First: 6/3/2012 Last: 7/10/2012 |
DundeeChest and DrMK, thanks for the kind words. I'm going to be off to the Bristol Childrens Hospital and Bristol Royal Infirmary for my core surgical training next year. Thankfully the show was broadcast after the interviews, so didn’t get any difficult questions on why I'd taken part. I did put it on my CV though, so if they were looking closely enough they could have asked questions. Some of us did have girlfriends and boyfriends, but they were all cut out in the edit. I think it was just too hard with the time constraints to get footage of them in. I think by cutting this out they probably have lost a bit of the stress and disruption to a normal life that comes with being a doctor, but that was an editorial decision made by the BBC. Some people have been unhappy with the way they were portrayed, but by and large it was just for little things as opposed to the general themes/characterization. I enjoyed the whole experience, and I think it’s probably benefited my career - I've been asked to give a variety of lectures, possibly got more theatre time than I would have done otherwise, and have generally got involved in projects that I wouldn't otherwise have had the opportunity to do. I would therefore recommend taking part to anyone who asked. However, there is the caveat to that that you have to be reasonably confident about how you are as a doctor, and how you are viewed by other people, I don’t think its something you should do if you're particularly anxious or don’t have that real desire to do medicine. Hopefully all being said and done I'll look back on the show with fond memories as a reminder of what FY2 was like and the good times that I had at Chelsea. DrP123 - I didn’t change the way I prepared for theFY2 compared to FY1. I was quite lucky, I had two weeks to settle into the ward before they filmed with me (each camera crew was shared between 2 docs), so I got to learn the ropes a bit and get to know the team. I'd also worked in the department before as a student, so knew a (very) little bit of paeds surgery before starting which helped. I think the most important thing that being filmed highlighted for me was how sometimes when I'm stressed or busy I begin to think about letting the little, seemingly unimportant jobs start to slide, and not following up on everything as quickly or as thoroughly as I should. Having a camera crew there though meant that I had to give it 100% all the time, and highlighted how important it is for me when I’m busy or stressed just to take five minutes so that I can give every patient/task the time and effort that they need. |
Forums » Open clinical » General clinical » My experience of being on “Junior Doctors: Your life in their Hands”
