Dr Chris White
Originally from the UK, Chris started as a House Officer at North Shore Hospital in August 2009. In December 2009, he stepped up into a Surgical Registrar post and explains why he likes training in the Auckland region...
As a General Surgery Registrar at North Shore Hospital, I enjoy
the practical side of my job: the operations; and theatre. My
Consultants are supportive and happy for me to take on
responsibility. I enjoy the rapport that we have with the
Anaesthetists. People come in with a problem and we have the
ability to fix it.
I chose General Surgery as a speciality pretty much for the
reasons that I have just mentioned. I enjoyed General Surgery
all the way through Medical School - in our foundation training the
suturing and cutting was a lot of fun.
As part of my training, I went to Medical School for five years
(In the UK), I then completed 2 years of foundation training in the
UK before coming to New Zealand.
The top 3 things about working at North Shore as a General
Surgery Registrar are;
1. The View of Lake Pupuke!
2. The depth and breadth of the operations performed at North
Shore Hospital
3. The quality of my co-workers - they are all good fun and we
have a brilliant variety of people.
In my spare time, I love to participate in all adventure
activities that one can imagine: Hiking; bungy humping; canyon
swinging; skydiving; heli-hiking; waterwalks; climbing volcanoes -
going to movies, plays, comedy clubs and sailing. I try and
sort out what needs to be done at work during the week and set
goals of want I want to do in my personal life. If it means
staying late during the week to keep my weekend free, then I will
do what I need to do to obtain that.
At North Shore we have a good social life, especially for the
RMO's. We have parties and have outings, such as the one that
I have just organised to (climb) Mount Taranaki. We also have
a Rugby League team that a whole load of us are involved in.
If you want to move into General Surgery, you need to spend as
much time as humanly possible getting involved. Practice
suturing; study hard and read up on the operations that you
see.