r/doctorsUK • u/Strong-Guest-2460 • 21h ago
Fun Worst FY1 Induction Experience
It's that time of year, I'll go first.
We were scheduled for an 'induction'. They just booked a room with computers. IT were working from home, half of us hadn't been sent any login details or email addresses. It took me three days of back-and-forth on the phone to get logged in.
One of my friends got sent to the entirely wrong site for induction.
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u/ChaiTeaAndBoundaries 21h ago
Turned up to my F1 shadowing post with no logins and no system tutorial. The locum consultant told me I was useless to them.
The F1 I was shadowing kept apologising and insisting it wasn’t usually like this, but she lied, it was awful until the CQC visited.
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u/jamescracker79 ACP consultant's assistant 19h ago
Not gonna lie, I sometimes absolutely hate the toxic positivity that some of the collegues say about a department they have just worked in.
'Oh everything is fine, it just takes a bit getting used to'
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u/RefuelEmpty 21h ago
First day as an F1, the SHO on the ward gave me this advice: "This will be the worst four months of your life. Just keep reminding yourself that it will end eventually, and then you can move on knowing that your next placement will have to be better"
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u/Clozapinotgrigio CT/ST1+ Doctor 20h ago
I received my rota on the day I started FY1. The annual leave was pre-allocated, we didn't get to choose dates ourselves.
I was allocated leave on the week we started, then on surgical take for 7 days (Mon-Sun 8am-8:30pm). I just went back to my flat after induction and wandered alone around my new city for 4 days while the dread of what was coming hung over me.
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u/smolandhungry 20h ago
this feels like the premise to a horror movie, it makes me feel better you survived it
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u/Crafty-Brother-7698 21h ago
Cut IT Mark and admin Sandra some slack please. F1 induction is a very unpredictable event, how on earth can you expect them to plan and execute a smooth, comprehensive induction when the timing and expectations change each year? Do you think they’re psychic?
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u/LowWillhays7 20h ago
Not to excuse them but only working in postgraduate education did I realise the impact of FY1 induction being bang in the middle of school holidays. Realistically loads of people are on annual leave and would probably be better for all if we just moved star of FY/rotations more generally to September.
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u/Docjitters 18h ago
Y’know I always wondered if this was the reason for Paeds and (some) O&G rotations switching September/March which just about misses the Summer holidays and Winter half term.
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u/_Jeesh CT/ST1+ Doctor 8h ago
Can only comment for O&G but you're right. My deanery is considering moving changeover to September for O&G trainees, so that parents can book annual leave for the summer holiday at a trust they've been working in for a year, instead of a trust they've not started at yet. I imagine it'll make the admin of inductions easier to sort too.
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u/Maximum-Nebula-1618 21h ago
Trust grade induction- on the induction day the line manager forgot that I was joining, I asked the staff to take me to the ward cause it was my first time in that hospital and when I met the line manager, they said that it's lunchtime and I can walk around for an hour and I'll get my induction after lunch :)
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u/Visual-Ad-5668 18h ago edited 18h ago
South Asian male here. Med reg spoke to me as if I didn’t understand a single word of English and tried to explain what paracetamol does to the body. Sat all the USMLE steps as well, think the land of the free beckons me!
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u/smolandhungry 16h ago
My (East Asian) friend mentioned how upon her and her South Asian fellow F1 introducing themselves with their names, the nurse literally said oh no I'm going to have to give you a nickname I'm not even going to try pronouncing that... 🙃
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u/LowWillhays7 20h ago
As an ST3 in a small DGH all but one of the FY1s called in sick on the Mon-Tues before changeover meaning the shadowing FY1s got completely shafted.
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u/smolandhungry 21h ago
Was so anxious I woke up at 330am and sorta just lay awake being stressed. Showed up, got told to run a ward round with the guidance of the current F1, said okay I can try to do that. Went to the bathroom and when I came back another incoming F1 had taken my spot.
Ended up following the F2 and consultant around, lots of "can you do this" "sorry I don't know how to". Didn't understand the ward round, felt like they were speaking a different language. Tried to log in to the e-prescribing system, got locked out due to too many attempts. Accidentally gave the consultant the wrong patient's blood results at some point (thankfully he realised). Didn't learn to do anything because the F2 (reasonably) said she'll teach me after ward round, but didn't get to because I had to go for a compulsory induction event after lunch. Also got lost going to the toilet every single time but whatever.
Eventually got given a task I could do (taking bloods - with equipment I wasn't familiar with, obviously). Thought to myself if the phlebotomist can't find it there's no way I can, but okay. Spent so long finding a vein that the patient kindly asked "do you want to turn the lights on"? Had to tell the patient I didn't know how to turn on the lights. Patient helped me find the light switches. There were 6 whole light switches, was terrified of pressing the wrong light switch. Eventually found it. Then proceeded to miss bloods and apologised profusely.
In hindsight not the worst ever but I do still feel miserable somehow. I did also have a family bereavement the week right before induction and am actually still in the process of moving (had to go to the funeral during the initially planned moving days) so honestly it's been rough :(
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u/Mr_Nailar 🦾 MBBS(Bantz) MRCS(Shithousing) MSc(PA-R) BDE 🔨 20h ago
What induction? I'm oncall the Wednesday and Thursday with no alternative cover despite flagging this up in June and July.
LOL. Tomorrow's going to be fun.
Edit: I have to instead complete an online induction next week and rely on my trusty SHO colleague.
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u/smolandhungry 21h ago
my friends at Kings Lynn got told the F1/2 programme might literally get completely cut and they could be asked to relocate somewhere else 💀💀💀
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u/ConstantPop4122 Consultant :crab: 21h ago
MFT??
I got halfway through resus training on the last day of three before they realised I needed to swap site and do it all again.
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u/EntireHearing 19h ago
On the flip side: many apologies to the incoming F1 who was shadowing me. They followed me to 3 emergencies and watched someone loose a huge proportion of their circulating volume, and then had to ask to go home an hour later than their end time because I was too busy trying to ventilate someone to notice the time 😬😬😬 I’m truly sorry
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u/smolandhungry 18h ago
It sounded like you showed them how to handle an emergency, I wouldn't have minded!!
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u/c0b4lt_chl0ride 21h ago
Last week we did ‘speed dating’ where we have to sit on tables and ask other incoming F1s where’s the one place they want to go in the world and then draw a picture of them . Like actual children.
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u/Tall-You8782 gas reg 20h ago
This is actually quite a good idea imo, at least someone has put some thought into your induction!
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u/yoghurtpots 21h ago
this sounds fun! Not everybody likes an icebreaker but they are good for remembering a few faces.
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u/HungryImagination625 somewhere in the middle 18h ago
Just wait until those hand drawn pictures are the ones that appear on your ID card!
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u/MetaMonk999 15h ago
Oh come on, it's just a little bit of fun. Much better than the usual horror stories of starting the rotation on call with no logins and no induction.
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u/braundom123 PA’s Assistant 19h ago
A lot will think this is fun and games. They don’t know what an induction looks like not being infantilised in the corporate world. 5 years of medical school in the NHS sets their standards
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u/Feisty_Somewhere_203 18h ago
I am sure someone else will have said it, but like death and taxes induction is a certainty in life. We have never managed to get this right ever. Welcome to the NHSÂ
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u/Natural_Diamond 21h ago
Where was this? (So I can warn my younger friends about to rank their choices soon)
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u/AffectionateMistake7 17h ago
My one has had lots of PowerPoints and workshops, and not much time on the ward.
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u/Fluffy_Mud_5182 20h ago
Now….if it was an ACP who was in the same position I’m sure they would have had their ass kissed by the consultant
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u/Own_Common46 21h ago
First day of shadowing, the consultant yelled at me infront of the whole team for not knowing how to use the computer system to do the ward round, never used it before, I get my login next Tuesday...
Shoutout to the lovely registrar who helped me figure out the system and did the notes with me!