Interview
Chris talked to us about his experiences at all three regional Auckland District Health Boards and why he recommends Auckland as a great place to train as a Paediatrician.....
At Kidzfirst the trainee will gain really good exposure to
General Paediatrics. The cases that are presented are interesting
and varied and quite different to the cases at Starship Hospital or
Waitakere Hospital. This is due to the demographics and
socioeconomic groups. You are rostered on 7/8 weeks for admissions
where they see a lot of emergency cases and 1/8 weeks ward rounds.
In the Newborn Intensive Care Unit, you are asked to attend
deliveries, be on hand for Neonatal resuscitation and you get
exposure and experience in level 2 and level 3 care.
Waitakere Hospital in West Auckland is a small community based
hospital that gives you all round General Paediatrics experience.
There are five registrars and the service is driven by the Senior
Medical Officers. They get less variety but they receive more time
with the Consultants because of the way the service is set up.
There are no weekends or evenings, the roster consists of night and
day shifts. In addition to the Grand Round and teaching the trainee
can tap into across the region, Waitakere has three hours of their
own teaching a week including a journal club. This counts towards
advanced psychosocial training requirements. It's a really friendly
place to work as it's a smaller unit.
As the only hospital of its kind in New Zealand, Starship
Hospital in Auckland city provides variety and exposure to specific
sub specialities. The training is excellent, with a Grand Round and
Paediatrics update in weekly hour long sessions, which can be
accessed via audio conference. There is an hour for RMO teaching on
Thursday afternoons in addition to FRACP formal teaching. At
Starship, the majority of specialty teams have one hour teaching
with the Senior Medical Officers.
Every job is different, but we would average about 50 hours work
a week. Generally most non shift rosters are 0800 - 1700 hours with
a long day until 2200 once a week, and a weekend every 3-4 weeks.
The shift work jobs tend to be more 40-45 hours a week but much
more variable in terms of time, with more out of "office hours".
Chris' typical day consists of the usual Registrar activities:
handover, ward rounds, acute assessments and admissions and
outpatient clinics.
Chris has stayed in Auckland predominantly for personal reasons
in that his family and friends are here. He also believes the
training is outstanding. The trainees rotate together so there is,
as with most specialities, a good level of peer support and
camaraderie amongst the regional trainees. There is good
accessibility and support from Senior Medical Officers across all
the hospitals.
He chose Paediatrics as his career because he likes working with
children and their families and is interested in making them
well.
Please feel welcome to contact Chris about a career in
Paediatrics.
Email: Chris
Peterson