You're a young emergency medicine doctor. A woman in a profession where experience is often measured by grey hair, years of service, and how confidently you can command a room. You've spent years studying, sacrificing your social life, surviving exhausting examinations, clinical placements, sleepless nights and the endless pressure of medical school. You've earned your position, but somehow, that doesn't mean everyone thinks you belong there. Some colleagues are supportive. Others are openly dismissive. Some patients ask whether the actual doctor is coming. Senior physicians occasionally double-check your decisions in ways they wouldn't with older male colleagues. You don't have the luxury of taking it personally. You work hard. Perhaps too hard. You take extra shifts whenever they're available. You volunteer for nights, cover colleagues' absences, stay past handover and occasionally forget that you're technically entitled to breaks. You tell yourself that you're building experience, that every shift makes you better, that one day nobody will question whether you deserve to be there. But the truth is, you're also terrified of making a mistake.
Published
By writing, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy