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In the Dollymix CV today we're talking to Sajini Wijetilleka, who works as a doctor at the Royal London Hospital currently working in Nephrology. She took time out of her busy schedule to talk to us about all aspects of her job - from what she enjoys most about her job to her views on life after the NHS reform.
Name:Sajini Wijetilleka
Job title: CT2 Doctor Royal London Hospital. I am currently working in nephrology (dialysis and renal transplant).
Working hours:most weeks 830am-7pm Monday to Friday. One weekend in eight, one week of nights (830pm-9am) in eight.
How long have you been working in the industry and how did you get there?
In total eleven years. I did a six year medical degree at Imperial College London (specialist year in Haematology) and graduated in 2007. I have worked for five years as a junior doctor, taking on a physician's rotation for the last two.
What does your typical day consist of?
A morning meeting, to discuss the inpatients and those referred from other hospitals. I then join my seniors for a ward round, do the jobs from the ward round (e.g. admin, blood tests, speaking to other departments), eat lunch, review blood tests, do a second ward round, taking time to speak to patients' and their relatives, do the rest of the jobs generated, updating the patient list and going home.
One week in two, I do on-calls, seeing admissions from A&E, dialysis, outpatient units and other hospitals. These last from 0830-2100. Every eight weeks, I do an outpatient clinic with the boss.
What do you enjoy best about your work?
The variety and the stories; patients never fail to surprise me. I have been serenaded, proposed to, taught geography, the possibilities are endless. The most rewarding thing is seeing a patient get better.
Do you find it easy to balance work and family life?
It's tricky. On a rotation, you rotate through different departments, some less intense than others. Nephrology is a notoriously intense specialty so I have had difficulties seeing friends and attending yoga & pilates classes (3 out of 12 this past term).
Outside clinical duties, career physicians are expected to perform audit projects, contribute towards hospital management targets/processes and teach medical students. Days off aren't always spent relaxing.
What advice would you give to young women wanting to get into your industry?
Spend lots of time with hospital doctors before you decide to join us. Working life is so dynamic, with constant interruptions and bleeps so you need to be able to cope with this to get through the day. You also need to make others comfortable enough gain your trust and confide in you quickly, so spend some time volunteering with the elderly and homeless.
To an outsider, medicine seems like quite an equal opportunities career choice for men and women. Is that a fair assessment of the reality?
Superficially, I'd say so. According to the 2009 Royal College of Physicians review on Women in Medicine, 60% of medical students are female. 40% of doctors are women and 42% of general practitioners are women. Some less competitive hospital specialties such as paediatrics, obstetrics and public health have a large number of less than full time trainees and fewer 'extra-curricular' demands, such as research, making them more attractive to doctors who would like to balance an active non-clinical life with work.
Specialties such as academic medicine, surgery and cardiology on the other hand are very competitive, require intense out of hours commitment and considerable extra-clinical input. This makes them less attractive to women and consequently, only six percent of Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic surgeons and 16% of academics are female.
What sort of issues have you come up against in your career that you believe are directly related to gender?
Life on the wards used to be difficult for the generation before me. Nurses and other health professionals weren't accustomed to female leadership and hence provoked animosity from my predecessors. Thankfully the new generation of nurses was trained with female doctors and we work more cohesively.
We have also experienced sexism from certain surgical colleagues but our needlework teachers taught us well (so we learnt to avoid pricks!).
There is a strong belief that men are more reluctant to seek medical help than women. Is this true in your experience? Is it changing?
I see emergencies who self-present to A&E and outpatients (who are referred by their GP). There is no difference in proportions according to gender. Where a planned treatment could take place, e.g. planning patients with deteriorating kidney function for dialysis women are by far the more co-operative patients, prioritising healthcare over other commitments.
With patients who don't speak English, those live with their daughter as their main carer are more likely to attend clinic and receive better healthcare/education than those looked after by sons. Those looked after by sons tend to miss clinic and turn up out of hours severely ill, requiring emergency dialysis. Similarly, men are less giving than female relatives as over 90% of our live-related kidney transplant donors are female. Patriarchal cultures pressure females to donate. With culture-specific education, this is changing, albeit slowly.
What do you see as the biggest danger to women's health in 2012?
Cardiovascular disease and diabetes - heart attacks and strokes kill as many people as cancers.
How do you feel about the recent NHS reforms?
I feel the reforms were rushed without sufficient consultation from the public sector, patients, postgraduate medical, nursing and midwifery colleges and the British Medical Association. I feel the NHS is going to be subjected to unfair competition by the private sector and that staff training and postgraduate education will no longer be prioritised.
With these changes and cuts to research, health and social care budgets, the most vulnerable users of our health service will suffer. On a positive note, the reforms will subject our health service to greater evaluation and scrutiny so hopefully the next set of changes will be made in a more informed manner.
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