Medical residents are in the midst of a concerted drive to educate Canadians, including fellow workers, about who they are and what they do.
“Sometimes you're working in the middle of the night and you go up to the ward and one of the nurses says, ‘Oh, you must be on the night shift,’ ” says Dr. Joseph Mikhael, the 31-year-old president of the Professional Association of Internes and Residents of Ontario (PAIRO). “And then I say, ‘No, I’m actually on the day-night-day shift, and I've been here for 28 hours.' ”
Mikhael hopes that Resident Awareness Day on Apr. 15, an annual initiative by 7 residents' associations, will help to educate the public — not to mention the occasional health care professional. Residents at information booths across the country will try to cast some light on the realities of their lives, such as lack of sleep, fatigue, increased rates of depression and strained personal relationships.
“There is a higher and higher expectation that if you want to be hired on in an academic centre you need a degree beyond what you have in your medicine and postgrad training,” Mikhael explains. “They only want the best, so the bar has definitely been raised. It's just one more hoop you have to jump through.”
Mikhael, a sixth-year hematology resident, knows the stresses residents face. He combines his residency with work toward a master's degree, weekend stints as a preacher, and his marriage. He also has a 6-figure student loan.
But he's quick to point out that the situation has improved immensely since PAIRO was formed in 1968. Then, residents had to live in the hospital, worked without a salary and were expected to be on call every second night. Today, Ontario residents work 1-in-4 call.
“The notion that you give your life away to become a physician has changed with each generation,” Mikhael says. “We know now that a fuller life outside of medicine makes us better doctors.” — Brad Mackay, Toronto