Working for Wellness
Maria Boland: ST6 in General Surgery training, South East Scotland,on behalf of RCSEd Trainees Committee
Maria Boland: ST6 in General Surgery training, South East Scotland,on behalf of RCSEd Trainees Committee
For the third year running the RCSEd Trainees’ Committee embarked on organising our Wellbeing Week. Born in lockdown, this five-day event has featured a popular series of webinars, activities and competitions held largely virtually, and has always been well attended and well received.
Wellbeing, or the appreciation of the importance of wellbeing, has become increasingly important among trainees and trainers alike over recent years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people’s wellbeing or lack thereof became more transparent, and we felt organising a week where people could have contact with others and hear about interesting topics relating to wellbeing would be a good way of reaching out to our College Members and offer a space for people to reflect on their own personal wellbeing and ways of improving it.
This year wellbeing week ran from 22 to 26 May. We had a webinar each evening covering a range of themes.
Kicking off on the Monday night Sarah Caddy gave a talk titled ‘Using neuroscience to harness performance’.
Tuesday night featured Pamela Sturges with Healthcare Art Club, including a live drawing session. On Wednesday David Alderson talked us through ‘Learning to live with our mistakes’, a topic vital to being a surgeon, but often overlooked. On Thursday Jacqui Honess-Martin and Brooke Vandermolen talked us through ‘Parenting as a doctor’ and, finally, on Friday we learned about ‘Surgery without borders’ hearing the inspiring achievements of Angus Watson and Louise McCullough.
Alongside the webinars, we ran a poetry competition, a charity fundraising goal, a yoga session and a music playlist to which people could add songs they like to listen to in theatre.
The event was well received, with many people tuning into the webinars, and the feedback we received was extremely positive. The webinars are still available on the College website for people who were unable to attend at the time.
We would like to thank all our speakers, hosts, panellists and College staff who went above and beyond to ensure the week ran smoothly – we could not have done it on our own.
We have many exciting plans for next year’s Wellbeing Week. We would like to work with our international Members to make sure we cover areas more relevant to them. We would also like to make the week more personal and hope to include some in-person events with perhaps small breakout groups nationally. Most of all we would love to hear any ideas from Members of the College for topics that they would like us to include.
Please email comms@rcsed.ac.uk if you have any suggestions.
Poetry competition
As part of this year’s Wellbeing Week we invited participants to take part in a poetry competition. Themes explored included ‘Neurodiversity’, ‘The art of making a mistake’, ‘Parenting as a doctor’ and ‘Outside of the 9 to 5’.
We were delighted to receive a number of entries for the poetry competition and were pleased to announce Kellie Bateman as winner of the competition, as chosen by judges David Alderson and Harula Ladd. Bateman won a voucher for a one-night stay at the College’s Ten Hill Place Hotel. Read her winning entry below.
A Doctor burnt out
by Kellie Bateman
A doctor, a healer walks on to the wards
Hi I’m Jack, how can I help he calls
The team flurry past handing him jobs and charts
Start here, do this, admin work, not smarts.
Rotate, next job
77% of trainees this year felt burnt out
They think of patient problems like an annoying flare of gout.
When they feel undervalued and forgotten,
How can they care about your mum’s problem?
Rotate, next job
He flails within a system no longer fit for purpose
Ambition deflated, he don’t reach for the skies
He thought this job was about saving lives,
But who cares about him at the end of the night.
Rotate, next job
Mindfulness, resilience, offered like band aids.
Staying late, again, all of it unpaid
Trying to do your best, the expectation too much.
Stuck in your own head, Forget the power of touch.
Rotate, next job.
But stop!
Listen,
Who is this doctor?
What makes him tick?
How can he belong, love his work, not be sick
Understand his story, what makes him feel valued
Build support systems, Not doctors abused.
Money might help, that is true.
But let’s improve working conditions too
Rest facilities, study leave, a computer that works
Teamwork, a purpose, a supervisor that cares
We ask that you take a pause for a minute
Understand our perspective, how to live it
Doctors unsupported, undervalued, burnt out
Hear us, respect us, put the fire out.
For more details about Wellbeing Week and to access webinar recordings click here
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