Some people massively under estimate the role of junior dr's. F1's and 2 in the area i work (a very large inner city trauma centre A&E) work 8 or 10 hour shifts, they do 7 days on 2 off 4 on 2 off. They also have exams etc happening at the same time. They are the first medic patients are seeing, we could have one reg or consultant, not both, one of the other, who every junior who sees a patient has to go to for confirmation before they can discharge or refer on a patient. Just considering for a minute ambulatory - so walk in or patients brought by ambulance deemed well enough to wait, could have 70+ patienst at a given time. theres 5 F1'&2's seeing assessing taking history documenting ordering diagnostics chasing diagnostics reviewing diagnostics referring these patients. They dont get their breaks, they NEVER leave on time as they have so much documentation to do. I as a nurse badger them to help me do the difficult cannulation, to prescribe pain relief, to prescribe regular medications for patients waiting 15+ hours, to see a patient deterioating sooner, to reassess a patient whos i think just doesnt look right, to see a sepsis trigger within the allocated time order all teh tests and prescribe the appropriate treatments, check every single ECG and blood gas i do immediately, to follow up someone the labs have called about, to do a MCA on a patient i dont think has capacity to leave, all on top of the 15 patients they are already in the process of seeimng and treating. They work so hard, they have to know so much, they have to remain calm under immense pressures, they have no free time, no social life. They move departments to a new speciality every few months, not even a speciality of their chosing, not even in a town, sometimes county or even country of their chosing. And they get paid next to fuck all for the privilege, knowing that they have decades of studying to get close to the top, and that top is never guaranteed. Our young Dr's are broken by the system before they even start, now, after being broken by it, they are being told theres no jobs for them after, and have to do locuming until something turns up, with 100's sometimes 1000's of applicants for positions. Its quite frankly, disgusting.
We need Dr's. We need Dr's that arent broken by a system that should be helping them suceed. Instead we have people slating them for being lazy, money driven, not comptetive enough, being entitled and expecting it to be handed to them. No Dr enters the profession thinking they are guarenteed their dream job immediately. But they should be guaranteed A job, and paid and supported appropriately.