Dear Prevocational Colleagues and JDocs Subscribers,
Kia ora
Welcome to the first newsletter of 2024.
I hope you are settling into your new jobs and beginning to get on top of any anxiety that always seems to follow us when we take on a new role. There are always new things to learn, different ways of doing things and working relationships to form. Hospitals are complex communities, and every day can seem like a school day sometimes!
One of the good things to help over this time, and in your long term surgical goals, is to look out for a mentor. You may not have thought about it before but many of us have benefitted from mentors at different stages of our careers. It might be that this person can help you navigate the pathway ahead or provide guidance and support in times of stress. Our needs change as we progress and so too might your mentor.
There are formal guides as to how to go about this, but it doesn’t by necessity need to be formal. A SET Trainee in your anticipated speciality can provide a wealth of inside knowledge as might a rural surgeon from a previous attachment, or a surgeon with whom you are completing a research project. Mentors can be sought but they can also just happen.
The College has produced a booklet on this which you might wish to look at.
Mentoring: A Practical Guide
Most surgeons are only too willing to share thoughts, help shape new surgical careers, and assist with reflection – noting that there will always be time and place! During a delicate phase of any procedure is usually not it!
Remember also that as a PGY3+ you need to have a CPD home by now and that RACS can provide that for you. For more information contact cpd.college@surgeons.org
Good luck in your endeavours.
Ngā mihi nui
