Tuesday, 10 November 2015

PUTTING TITLES TO BED, LET VALUE SPEAK... House officer vs Intern Nomenclature

I had just finished reading the notice attached when it suddenly dawned on me that it was even meant for doctors and nowhere did I find the compound word, "house officer".
It reminded me of a scenario that played out earlier in the year while on night shift, a young doctor came around my unit to pick up infusions. Being someone i knew quite well, i tried to assist her in making sure she obtained what she wanted quite fast and when for some procedural reasons, my superior asked her if she was an "intern", she paused and with a look of disgust, replied "No, I am a House officer" and I felt so sorry for her immediately, yeah at her ignorance.

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To my fellow young practitioners, I will not ask how long we shall continue to biquer and argue as to who is who but I hold the view that the better question to ask ourselves and meditate upon is "what have I to render? What value can I add to the system?"
If we decide to play politics with our profession because we are in the all-things-can-go-Nigeria, so that Doctors can be the "Lord and Masters of the hospitals", the patient-oriented gains of interprofessional collaborative efforts will be lost and the dignity of our profession as envisioned in our respective creed cum oaths will be lost also. The patients who can be any one of us or our loved ones will suffer.

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There must be mutual respect for the traditional and emerging roles of all stakeholders in the clinical team as obtained in more developed systems. Real professionals put titles to sleep and let their values and contribution to humanity speak for them - this should be our lot in our quest to enshrine positive change and consolidate on the new era of our lives as a nation. Posterity will hold us to judgment if we fail to do the right things. Let us usher in a paradigm shift from pockets concerned service to value and impact-driven services; this will bring monumental, unprecedented and joyous progress to our health sector.


1 comment:

  1. Quite informative, a point to direct erring minds in this regard. Good stuff!

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