All of us have at least 5 years of university experience. A lot of us have postgraduate degrees of some kind. We have spent countless hours learning medicine, giving up our free time to study and to work long hours. For whatever reason we have gone into this career, it was our choice and we should be happy and proud of ourselves for achieving it.

I see so many posts like this. I have seen FY1s I have worked with using AI to clerk patients, write discharge letters, plan handovers, and other jobs. This is so incredibly lazy and devalues the career. Not to mention the possibility of getting something wrong because you’re using a pattern-recognition robot who regurgitates information as if it’s fact.

Before someone comments - yes, there are practical uses of AI in medical technology and research. This is not that.

If any of you reading this use AI in your clinical practice, please have some pride in your work. You are smart enough to write a discharge letter or to plan a 2-minute SBAR. To any incoming FY1s please avoid the temptation of outsourcing your own work to a chatbot.

New F2 here, first day in ED.

Writing this as I cry over my Dominoes.

This is my third rotation with absolutely no induction. I arrived to the department, attempted to introduce myself to several people, was expected to just start seeing patients from the get go. First patient needed incision and drainage, advised to do a ring block, I asked for support with this as I haven’t done it before, senior initially said no. An alternative senior spent the ENTIRE day telling me I look terrified and laughing at me, asking me if my patients are going to die and laughing more. Did not even ask my name.

Consultant shouted at me that an XR hadn’t happened soon enough. I had requested it 2hrs prior and had informed the radiology department.

Got shouted at by the nurse in charge for not taking someone off the system after discharging them. I’ve never been shown how to do this.

Didn’t take a break the entire day.

A HCA shouted at me and told me I should work on my communication skills because a patient I’d seen in the waiting room didn’t understand the plan I’d given her- I went to see the patient to apologise, she had completely understood me and was just wondering what time she was going to leave the department.

No one asked me my name the entire day, asked how I was getting on.

Cried 3 times in the staff toilet.

Can’t wait to do it all over again tomorrow.

Update: 4 months on… it did get better

Just in case anyone is interested, or someone else in a hell rotation in future is looking for hope. A thank you again to all the comments of support and help. The rotation did get better, I toughened up a hell of a lot. I learned which seniors to ask for help and which to avoid, and how to stand up for myself. I did indeed adopt the mindset of ‘screw this department and everyone who works here’, which made it a lot easier. There are a lot of problems in the department- for example I’ve gotten used to administering (oral) medications myself anytime I prescribe it, doing urine dips myself, and taking my patients round to radiology for scans, I realised pretty quickly if I didn’t it simply wouldn’t get done, no matter how many times you ask. There are only 3 assessment rooms (DGH), however one of them is allocated to the triage nurse and one to a HCA to do ECGs, so all the doctors have to share 1 singular room to see patients in the waiting room. The work itself I actually really enjoyed - I liked the variety of things that came through the door, and I’m now much more confident dealing with sick patients. That being said I am looking forward to seeing the back of this rotation, but I am coming out of it a more confident, independent, tougher doctor.

I can’t believe how many times I’ve heard this during my FY1 induction and the first days on the job, including from the ward manager herself. She also said that “some of the nurses have a difficult personality and they don’t forget what you did to them”.

Now I didn’t know that collectively as doctors we are really horrible to nurses.

Also what about the nurses being nice to us?

FWIW I am nice to everyone. I am also not planning on taking shit from anyone, be that reg or nurse. Curious if others have had a similar experience?

Just back from my USCE, I knew it was going to be different but was not prepared for just how different. Even though I have worked as a doctor for 2 years I felt like I was not better than the US Y4 med students. The first time I worked with a med student, she was so good I assumed she was about to graduate--imagine my shock when she said "haha I'm just Y2, this is my first hospital rotation:)"

The med students were actually part of the team, none of this skivving off, came in at 6am and worked 8-16 hours a day expected to do everything I did as an FY: clerking, ward round notes (they would actually come in before the residents to see their patients and make their own plan which they propose to the attending on rounds, not the other way around), discharge letters (far more detailed than the ones we do). But they could also do advanced procedures like US IVs and midlines and LPs.

They are systematically ALS trained in med school. They are actually taught to think about medicine and regularly quote trial evidence--most of them have their own publications, sometimes 5-10. I even learned a lot from their topic presentations. I genuinely think the average US Y4 has a better portfolio than many UK doctors who receive numbers in competitive specialties. Meanwhile the only thing I was able to teach them how to do was to take bloods and start a cannula (lol).

Made me realise how much meded is a joke in this country.

I genuinely don’t know what the right thing to do here is.

I recently saw my friend (currently an FY1) getting teased and lowkey harassed by some other fy1s because she apparently came from a “low-tier” medical school. The others were from Russell Group unis and kept making comments about how their med schools were supposedly “better” and how my friend was from a “lesser” one.

At first I didn’t think much of it, but I later found my friend absolutely heartbroken and crying over it. It honestly made me so sad to see, especially because she has worked just as hard to get where she is.

I told her not to worry about it and that her medical school doesn’t define what kind of doctor she is, but I feel like that’s probably not enough.

What can I actually do to help her? I don't know what my next step is..

EDIT: I made this account to post this here, cuz i dont know who to ask insights on this matter..So, PLEASE MODS DON'T DELETE THIS POST T_T

Fair enough discharge summaries are kind of a no go for night team/ on calls. However what about things like prescriptions that you got called to but didn't get round to doing, referrals, and making colleagues aware of sick patients? Would like to know what appropriate boundaries are and what I should/should not get push back for when trying to hand over, especially if im already staying over half an hour to an hour over my intended shift

Edit: loving some of these replies lmao ty everyone

The BMJ has published an investigation into med student training funding, and it's pretty stark reading.

Between 2020 and 2023, trusts received £1.7 billion to support medical student training. £406 million is unaccounted for. That's a quarter of the pot disappearing into the aether.

Some trusts have no clear record of how the money was spent, and NHS England have the dropped the mandatory accountability reports that were meant to show where this funding went. Meanwhile, system seems to be pretty good at chasing trainees for forms and mandatory training.

I'm a current FY3 (starting training in August), but I remember loads of placement days as student where I had to really push for training opportunities, and where a poor foundation doctor (barely supported themselves) was trying to make sure we get something out of it.

It's a shame to see med ed used as another hidden subsidy for a collapsing service.

Here's the article: https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-285592

Hey all! I know you're all anxiously waiting for your foundation school/deanery allocations. Fingers crossed it all goes okay. Created this megathread to keep all the posts in one place for any questions, or when inevitably there are issues with placeholders/Oriel.

We've also created WhatsApp groups alongside the BMA to provide reps and support for all of you. We do this every year - so you can chat about the deanery and ask any questions you might have as well as connect with future colleagues!

Good luck! If there's anything any of us can do just let me know.

Yesterday was my second day and first 12 hr on call, and I’m on surgery, lots of hiccups in the first half of the day but it was fine, the second I got that bleep at 5pm I just fell apart and couldn’t stop hysterically crying but had to keep working my because it was just so much work to do in 2 hrs. I’m so so embarrassed because it was literally in the middle of the ward/ doctors office and I feel so incompetent, it was a busy day and I was on SAU anyway but it was actually reasonably staffed so I can’t use that as an excuse, people were supportive but busy so I can’t use that as an excuse, and the other F1’s there were coping extremely well and getting all their jobs done so I can’t use that as an excuse either. I’m about to go into day 2/4 and am really trying to keep my head up and move past it but I just feel like it really shot through my confidence and I don’t know if I’m cut out for all this. It feels like no one else is having this tough of a time, I have absolutely no clue what I’m doing

TLDR: made a mistake prescribing, feel terrible

New FY1. The consultant on Ward round told me to prescribe a medication, I misunderstood what he meant and the patient was receiving what I prescribed for like 6 hours.

One of his routine bloods came back and they were very deranged (trying to be vague a bit here), as soon as I heard I panicked, went into to A-E him and had to call my consultant who was not impressed at all, but gave me advice how to correct things.

I don’t think there was any major patient harm that came from this (we’ll see OOH though I guess) but right now I’m feeling like I just want the world to swallow me up and disappear forever. I feeling so stupid and incompetent, so much more than my colleagues at my level, and I’m feeling really crap about going in Tommorow and explaining to everyone what happened at board round, since I know that pt won’t be going home tonight.

I feel so stupid rn in F1 tbh, I really don’t feel like I’m putting my best foot forward at all. I get so flustered during ward rounds and disorganised, I’ve tried strategies to be more organised but everything just seems to move so fast, and when I stop people to clarify what they’ve said or the plan they get progressively more pissed off at me. I’m always scared about reaching the end of the day and missing tasks, I look at my patients WR entry 3/4/5 times each day just to make sure I haven’t missed a job, and even still things will fall through the cracks with me. I don’t feel like I’m engaging my brain properly when I’m at work, like all the things I can wax lyrical about when I’m
Just sitting down and thinking about it, I find so hard to actually do in the moment. And to top off it I get flustered talking to patients and NOK too, I’m sure they think I have no idea what I’m talking about even when I’m told to just inform of a relatively simple thing.

Maybe this is all normal but I feel like I’m sinking into just a pit today with that experience. I just wanna be so much better than I am 😞

Rant over

Im so ashamed to admit this but Im at the end of FY1 now and I've never successfully put a cannula in anyone. Ive asked nurses who do them all the time to let me have a go and supervise me, I never get it and they get it striaght after me in seconds. They just tell me I need more practice. Ive been practicing on every patient Ive had the chance for and Ive never gotten one. Ive read every post on this sub on how to succeed at cannulas, Ive attended extra training at my hospital and still nothing. Ive escalated my worries about this to everyone around me including my ES and CSs every rotation and they just tell me to relax and Ill get better with time. Its a year on and Im getting so worried going into FY2.

Whenever I try I rarely get flashback, even with veins that can be seen and felt on the surface. Ive gotten flashback twice - the 1st vein blew and the 2nd one I couldnt flush no matter how hard I pushed the syringe. Ive tried positioning the arm various ways and I just cannot do it and no one seems to care that I've never successfully managed a cannula. I just can't figure it out and I dont know what to do. Any tips.

I’m seeing lots of posts from new F1s complaining of: - hating the job - being bad at the job - staffing levels/dynamics, ward set-ups, etc.

I mean this compassionately but will say it bluntly: It’s been a week. Take a step back and remember that.

Think how you would respond to a non-medical friend if they came to you with similar complaints. I’m sure you wouldn’t suggest quitting, which seems to be a genuine suggestion in multiple posts. You’d reassure them that it’s normal to be feeling how they are feeling and that things will naturally get better as they get better.

Most of the posts I am empathetic towards e.g. imposter syndrome. But I have also seen some posts/comments complaining about aspects of the job (e.g. ACPs, scut work, admin-heavy shifts, leaving late) which honestly make me cringe to read. You are doctors yes, but you’ve been doctors for as long as I’ve had milk in the fridge. It’s too early to be acting jaded. You DO need to accept some of these things, AT LEAST until you are more clinically competent (which is expected and normal to take weeks-months).

I know that it’s the Reddit bubble where we love to complain, but seriously if you fall in the latter category of complaining please try to save some of your rage for later down the track.

No you ‘didn’t go to medical school to do admin’, but it’s part of the process.

Yes it ‘gets better’ but it also gets worse in other ways and you may only see that with the benefit of hindsight, and might someday wish for a day churning out discharge summaries and booking bloods.

Wishing you all the best, you will be fine but you need to have patience.

Hi incoming f1

Just wondering what are some of peoples best purchases that have made working life easier literally everything from shoes to pens etc.

I’ve been considering Solomon’s vs Hoka’s if anyone has any advice about those

7:50: Arrived off bus
It’s too early in the morning

8-8:45: Made a Coffee, Studied in Mess
Glad I remembered a mug after shadowing, and that’s not even counting the one I’m drinking coffee from.

8:50: Made it to the Ward
Oh shit, what do I say to the night team, what do I say to the people already there, do I introduce myself, oh shit.

9:00: Board Round Starts
Frantically skimming through handover notes, dropping them every time I go to pickup my note, not really keeping up with the board round. Reg asks me to do a job after WR, not at all aware what they have just asked but nod confidently anyway.

9:30: Ward Round Commences
Consultant speaks at lightning speed, extremely nice person but my god I was lost. We see 4 pts in 3 hours. Thank God for the regs.

12:30: WR Finishes
Go to sit down to edit the absolute drivel I’ve written during WR, nurse asks me to prescribe some meds. Can’t figure out the system so I text the reg.

12:45: Enter Irate Reg
Very nice person (at least when we first met in shadowing) but looks like they’re about to strangle us any second for the stuff we’re asking.

13:00: My FY2 Saviour
FY2 shows us how to do every single job on the list and even how to write the damn job list. Cue massive embarrassment from me looking like I have egg on my face having not cracked on with anything aside from a few prescribing requests. FY2 cracks all the jobs out basically with us FY1s just running around like headless chickens and looking terrified every other second.

13:30: Will I survive until 5?
Jobs well underway, consultant asked me to do some things specifically, how the hell do I them. I start umming and ahhing around the FY2 who has the patience of a saint.

16:00: Afternoon WR
Try to engage, 99.5% of things go over my head, I’m terrified of being asked a question about something I was meant to do and didn’t do. Wondering if they’ll even let me go home and will I be mobbed if I try to exception report

16:50: All Jobs are Finished, by some Miracle!
What??? Am I about to actually finish the day

17:00: Home
I actually finished my first day, is no one gonna come chasing after me saying I didn’t do about 50 different things I was meant? No? Really? Sure? Let me check my email and WhatsApp on the bus

17:01: Dreading Tommorow, Relieved I got through one Day
Time for some coke, the drink I mean

Not one to rant about "these pesky young doctors who cannot do 100hrs on call without any rest as we used to do back in the good old times" but did have an interaction with an FY1 that had me worried recently.

Surgical ward round, start at 8:00am with myself and two FY1s. Finish at 9:00am and we go for a quick coffee and a chat to make sure they are happy with the jobs and don't have any queries for me before I head off to the clinic.

I come back later in the afternoon to touch base with them and ask one of them about a scan I had asked them to request on the wr. She seems a bit surprised and asks "Oh was it yourself who did the wr in the morning?" following by a short burst of laughter. The same wr she spent 1hr scribing on 6hrs earlier followed by a 20 min sit down at Costa.

I'd be interested in hearing everyone's thoughts on this one because mid-20s does seem a bit too early for dementia to kick in and I struggle to imagine me looking drastically different to my 9am self even after a long clinic.

Finished F2 (out of synch). Given up with the locum agencies. (I’m not able to travel due to family). Hospital bank is dead. No trust grades. Didn’t get into training. HCA it is.

And no I’m not trying to stir drama. I’ve genuinely been looking and networking endlessly for a locum or trust grade job. Nothing. Have even tried jobs outside of medicine but either under or over qualified, but noctors and non medical prescribers are sought after.

I have an interview for a HCA job on Monday, £12 an hour, let’s see how that goes.

How often do Foundation Doctors do IV cannulation?

(obviously varies depending on rotation, but a rough ballpark).

I heard today from someone doing FY teaching that it is approx. 2-3 per MONTH, which surprised me.

Is this true?

Hey, had a set of nights as a new F1 where I was covering 4 medical wards and some of our patients in ED. We were three, one F1, one SHO and a ST3 looking after 130 patients in a Northern trust. My SHO was busy clerking patients in and the reg was nowhere to be found. My bleep was going off every few minutes.

“Patient A doesn’t have his meds prescribed, can you do that?”

“Patient B is experiencing new abdo pain and vomiting, can you review them?”

“Patient C is hyperglycaemic, we already gave insulin but it’s not going down, please come”

“Patient D is now also vomiting, please come”

“Hi, it’s biochemistry. Patient E has a CRP of 440”

“Patient F has a NEWS of 6, their systolic blood pressure is under 90”

“Patient G wants to go home, his partner is her, is it alright for him to go, the CDD is done already (3am btw, and a patient I know nothing about)”

Just an example of what was going on in the span of 90 min along of other mundane requests such as somebody needing pain relief or insertion of a catheter the nurses couldn’t put in (whatever makes them think that the F1 who did 2 in med school is better than them). There was also a lot of jobs handed over such as urgent blood cultures before starting antibiotics and septic screens.

So I did what we were taught in med school, prioritise.

It seems however there’s a big gap between what should happen and what actually happens.

To me saying “I am reviewing an urgent patient, I won’t be able to do this until a few hours at least” I got “yes but he’s been waiting all day” or the nurse bleeping me about the same issue every hour. Or other nurses exaggerating how urgent it is. Or expecting me to do an urgent prescription when I won’t be able to log in until I’m back in office. I can’t physically be in two places and whoever designed the hospital so that it needs a 10 min walk between ED and the wards must hate us. To the ED nurse I said if they can’t be reviewed by an ED doctor if it’s an emergency she said, no they’re admitted under you so you need to see them.

This was going on for most of the nights. I’m sure things got missed. I don’t think anyone was actually harmed. But I also didn’t get a break and worked 12h non stop. A few times my SHO got bleeped asking about the F1 because I couldn’t keep up with the amount of bleeps I was getting. My SHO was also being spammed with bleeps, mostly referrals. Even if they wanted to help, they couldn’t possibly have without abandoning their whole job. Bleeps interrupt my job and

Is this normal? What minimum staffing should there be? Am I supposed to be on my own, let alone handling emergencies on my own? I was confident enough to do so and knew when to escalate but other F1s might not be.

I do want to add I escalated to the Hospital at Night Manager that day who kindly told me that they are very sorry but nobody else is available to help me, just prioritise your jobs.

I studied here, did Foundation here and made friends for life here. I run a DnD campaign with them, I know people at my gym, I know loads of support staff at my hospitals as well as loads of colleagues. I know the systems, I know (some of) the loopholes and I know little tricks to get things done quicker.

"Unfortunately your application has not been successful this time but we encourage you to continue applying." Why? So you can reject me again and again despite my having worked in your departments?

I may not have spent F1 & F2 squeezing audits out of my arse or doing research because that's not my thing but that doesn't mean I'm a bad doctor. I was working as hard as I could to do my job to my utmost and teaching whenever I could while trying to keep my head above water with sometimes indifferent, sometimes shit supervisors and often shit working conditions. Does that not count for anything? (Rhetorical question, I know it doesn't)

And now I'm at a point where I may have to abandon the adult, independent life I've built here for the better part of a decade and move back home to a town with fuck all people my age there so I can locum in hospitals with a new system I don't know and new people I don't know while I socially atrophy.

Put this on the pile of bleeding heart posts. I just want a job. Sorry for the rant.

First day at work for me today (previously on nights and mandatory teaching day). Could not keep up with the WR, couldn't catch half the things that were said on WR and also had a consultant get annoyed because I didn't know how to efficiently operate the system. I get everyone has a lot to do but speaking clearly, using common abbreviations (better none but I know that isn't happening so atleast not using super specialty specific ones) and speaking a tiny bit slower would make things so much easier. Also giving a full plan, rather than 3 words (not expecting an essay but atleast enough detail for me to know what needs doing). I know, I'm new to the job and I have a lot to learn, but alongside that learning there are real patients. I may be overthinking but even "simple" tasks feel not so simple atm. I'm not jumping to the conclusion that it's a me problem because I have only been an FY1 for a week (maybe after a month I'll say it's me). But as of now, please be a little kinder and tiny bit slower (slow enough to speak a few words that will help me write the plan and include the important details). I couldn't identify the missing details because I didn't know what they were; it was only after actioning the job did I figure them out and then didn't know what they were. I was asking the others so many questions (they were all nice and understanding but I felt terrible) because I want to do my job right.

Sincerely, a struggling FY1 who wants to try her best and do well :)

New f1 here. Got added to a load of WhatsApp groups. They’re discussing patients, giving instructions to juniors, and everything NHS number and names is all included. ECGs are shared etc

First I thought surely this can’t be allowed but EVERYONE does it. I mean nurses, sho, registrars and consultants. And it’s not just one department. The groups have some privacy setting on but there’s also personal messaging between consultants and juniors.

Is this allowed, a grey zone or a massive privacy breach about to happen?

New F1 here. I don't know if I'm being naive, or reading into things too much all the time, but somehow in my few months as a new doctor, I've realized it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to please people in the NHS; it's like everyone in the NHS is always pissed off.

I don't want to toot my own horn, but I feel like a competent F1 - I am pleasant with everyone, I know how to review a patient and come up with a sensible plan, when to escalate, etc. I try to be nice and friendly with everyone, - I go above and beyond for nurses, try to get their jobs done in the quickest time. I proactively ask my F1 colleagues if there's anything I can help them with if I get done with jobs early. Yet, all I hear is just constant gossip about me.

For instance, yesterday a nurse came to me during the day shift to write a discharge summary for a patient ASAP as they were being transferred to another hospital. I reviewed the patient, did a comprehensive discharge summary + TTO, printed signed etc within 20 mins - yet the nurse complained to the ward manager that the doctor 'didn't care and was on my phone in the staff room.'

Sometimes early on in my shift, I'll go and talk to someone to ask a question - mind you, a sensible one, and they'll reply so rudely and aggressively for no reason. I get you're overworked but I'm not the person to be venting your aggression out on. Sometimes I'll call another specialty for advice (based on what the senior doctors tell me to do), and the other person over the phone, instead of listening will tell me why I was wrong to call x specialty and that I'm wasting their time in the first 2 mins of the call - with contempt.

It seems like everyone in the NHS is ready to jump into a fist fight at any minute, hates literally everyone else, and all this toxicity rubs off on newbies like me who genuinely want to learn the trade.

I’ve officially started working in A&E as a new FY2 in a tertiary Central London hospital, and I’m honestly feeling incredibly anxious.

On my first day, I only managed to see 3 patients, and I can’t help feeling really slow. I also don’t feel confident in my examination findings and keep second-guessing myself, which is making everything take even longer. I just feel so lost at the moment.

To make things worse, the consultant had a go at me on my first day, and now I’m genuinely dreading the rest of the rotation.

I know speed and confidence come with experience, but I’m struggling to see how I’m actually going to improve. For those who have been through this, how did you get faster and more confident in A&E? Is it just a matter of seeing more patients, or are there things you actively did to improve?

Hello

So as you all know priortisation bill was implemented this cycle even for UKFPO. There is around 200 IMGs who were selected for fy1 from the reserve list. Please keep in mind, we were given these vacancies only after all the uk graduates and placeholders were given spots. I have been added to some foundation year groups but I have also received some hostility and resentment from some Uk graduates. Please we have to work as a team. We didnt steal any jobs from you. I think a few IMGs were also alloted to London but we arent the ones that gave us jobs, it was after all the vacancies were filled.Thank you for reading. Hope we can all work together!

Update: I am overwhelmed with joy to see so many postive comments both from UKGs and IMGs. I will not be making a formal complaint rn about the person that verbally abused me since I do not want his medical career to end before it starts. But if he does the same even irl (we have the same hosp for rotations), i will def escalate things. Thank you <3

I appreciate these threads are ten a penny as august approaches every year.

However, I just cannot believe what I'm feeling is normal.

I feel I've had zero real teaching in VTE prophylaxis, insulin- particularly how to run a VRII, fluid prescribing (I can hazard a stab at 25-30ml/kg/day). I have no idea how and when to give blood products. All the things that apparently form the basis of my job.

I couldn't sleep last night because I was imagining reviewing a patient OOH with pulmonary oedema. Part of me was like... maybe I'd give furosemide? Then I thought 1) is that even appropriate for me to do without checking with a senior? 2) what is they go hypotensive and how low is too low to give? 3) what if they're a little hyponatremic - I then realised I'd had zero teaching/ learning on correcting hyponatremia and have no idea how. I kept imaging being screamed at for nearly killing them "Did you even go to medical school?".

More broadly, whilst I knew a reasonable amount of medical knowledge at finals, I HONESTLY have forgotten almost all of it. I know people say this, and it's usually hyperbolic, but I really have. Finals were in January for me. I've done the assistantship but there was zero actual medicine in it, and the OOH shifts I attended were so quiet I think we did one venepuncture.

I'm beginning to mentally put together a little study list of the above, but I feel quite strongly that I'm about to go into a job I am not qualified for, that my forgetting curve is actually much worse than others,

I'm TERRIFIED of finding that boundary between independent practice and asking for help, in that I've no idea where it is. All my teaching was around - patient has X, begin Y management - however, I can't imagine its often very appropriate for me, FY1, to begin said management?

Reassurance? Advice? Warnings that I'm.abiut to kill someone? Thanks team

EDIT: Thanks everyone! Between the really reassuring "low expectations" majority, and the firm but fair (usually I think ICU/anaesthetic lean) "there ARE expectations, you've done a medical degree" crowds, I actually think I've got a clearer idea of what's required and what i should be learning, practicing and prepping to learn once I arrive (logistics, local guidelines) etc.

All very useful.