Lessons from My Houseman Year - 1

Lesson 1 - Your mission, should you choose to accept it...

When I started my housemanship, my registrar told me that my mission was "to make it through the year without getting sued".

After all these years I still can’t think of a mission to trump that one.

Well, except maybe to avoid suicide.

In fact, I make it my daily mission now. (The not-getting-sued part, not the suicide.)

You see, all the rest - learning, getting noticed for traineeship, laying the foundations for a successful and satisfying career – are all important; but if you do get embroiled in a court-case, well, they won’t matter anymore now, will they?

So don’t kill anyone. Or yourself.

Not before you complete your houseman year anyway; God knows housemen are the rarest type of doctors we have…