Challenges to new doctors during the pandemic

Editor – Thank you for publishing the article ‘FiY101: A guide for newly qualified doctors’.¹ It offers a practical approach to managing common queries and anxieties for new doctors. As a trainee working through the COVID-19 pandemic from its start, I have observed and experienced a number of challenges to ways in which we work and to our wellbeing that are relevant to newly qualified doctors. I wish to highlight a few of these alongside the helpful advice already given.

The authors rightly mention that foundation rotas are subject to change. During the pandemic, not only have rota patterns changed but a number of doctors have been redeployed to entirely different departments.² Often those redeployed first have been foundation doctors who had to readjust not only to a new rota but also to a new team and have had to cover patients with completely different problems at short notice – as in the case of doctors redeployed from surgical to medical jobs.

New doctors should also bear in mind the need to prioritise booking annual leave early. It is often difficult to coordinate leave with other members of the team, on-call commitments and social events.³ There may be a temptation to delay booking leave until lockdown restrictions have been sufficiently lifted, allowing safe international travel and gathering in large groups at events. However, I would advise, based on my experience, that it would be more prudent to book leave even in the absence of definite social plans as many of us have found that we needed the time away from work simply to rest and recover.

Newly qualified doctors should be made aware that not only will they face the usual challenges expected of being a new doctor, but they will also face challenges unique to working during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the event of a second wave. They should be prepared to have to adjust to changes in how they work at short notice based on service-provision needs and should be proactive in prioritising their own wellbeing.