Ensuring Safety of Our Young Doctors - A Time for Action

Abstract

The issue of safety of young doctors in Malaysia is a recurrent issue, in recent years there have been more reports of bullying and harassment at the workplace which is a cause for concern. About a year ago an incident involving the unfortunate death of a house officer and the subsequent claims of the hospital being the worst place to practice has once more pushed this issue to the fore resulting in a high-level committee investigating the matter and providing recommendations to ensure the wellbeing of junior doctors. While changes were affected, other similar allegations have surfaced.

These problems however are not unique to Malaysia. They have and continue to be well documented in all healthcare facilities the world over.

As educators and practitioners, we are major stake holders in any process involving the profession and it is important that we begin to think about strategies to address this issue holistically and prevent any further incidents of this nature. The other issue that needs study is if these are isolated incidents or if there are systemic defects in the process that have gone unattended. We all believe that most people in the profession do not subscribe to this behavior, however it does exist and must be acknowledged.

To consider this problem holistically we need to look at the magnitude of the problem and viable solutions for the doctor in training, the trainers, and any other party with a stake in the outcome.