Thursday 9 September 2010

The Free Lunch

There's no such thing as a free lunch, is there?

Well for most of the population, that is indeed true. Lunch costs money, figuratively and literally. However, doctors seem to avoid the trend and get an actual free lunch once in a while.

Now, I will admit, it's not necessarily "free" - you're giving your time in return, but as to what you do with that time is really up to you, you can wangle it into the most free of calorific delights. Today, there was a Grand Round. Grand rounds are effectively teaching sessions for everyone from medical student to professor, where a doctor from your hospital presents a topic, usually specialist in nature, with the aim of imparting that knowledge onto doctors from other fields who may never see this condition in their normal practice.

Naturally, as with most educational things, no-one senior would go to them. The eager juniors might. The registrar who is interested in progressing his career in that field might, but a lot of doctors wouldn't. It's not necessarily that they think they're holier-than-thou, but generally because they're too busy to rip themselves away from the ward/clinic/golf course.

However, if you add a nice chicken korma, with rice, naan bread and some mango chutney, then even the radiologists will turn up! But is the lunch really free? If you enjoy the topic that's being talked about, then yes, or if you're like me and the topic is waaaay over your head, you can simply sit at the back and fill out all your blood cards and request forms safe from the nurses and their never-ending stream of requests. So you're fed whilst doing your normal job. Sounds free to me!

Sometimes the job gets your down, but for a busy jobbing junior, especially one who's led by his ever increasing belly, there are times when you've just got to smile.

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