This page covers the basics of your role as a resident doctor representative.
Contents
What is a resident doctor representative?
Why are resident doctor representatives important?
What are the key responsibilities of a resident doctor representative?
What are the qualities of being a good representative?
What is a resident doctor representative?
This video gives you a basic overview of everything you need to know.
Why are resident doctor representatives important?
We have over 2000 resident training Doctors at 14 different Trusts in KSS. Our representatives are essential for us to provide good quality training. By collecting feedback, helping us make improvements, and communicating back to your peers you will make tangible changes to the quality of training. It really is a crucial role.
What are the key responsibilities of a resident doctor representative?
The role has many opportunities to become involved in all sorts of work. However, the the majority of your role falls into three main categories:
- Collecting and representing the views of your peers. You will be an important point of contact for your colleagues, and often the first person to hear of any issues or problems they may be encountering.
- Attending meetings to represent your cohort. This includes attending local faculty groups, local academic boards and the junior doctors forum (including the fines committee.)
- Reporting back to your colleagues. You will need to share the outcomes of these meetings, along with any changes being made to ensure your peers are aware.
What are the benefits for me?
- Building new skills. From leadership, to organisation, to public speaking, being a representative also offers you the opportunity to improve skills which will be useful throughout your career.
- Quality improvement (QI). When you identify issues, you are often best placed to lead QI projects to make them better. These are meaningful projects that can lead to significant change for you and your colleagues.
- Opportunities to present your work. Previous KSS representatives have presented their QI work at board level locally, and at education conferences nationally.
- Future job applications. Work you have done as a representative can set you apart from other applicants. You can discuss your projects on you application form or at interview itself. Any presentations you do regionally or nationally will often count for points on your application too.
- ARCP requirements. Work you do as a representative can help you fulfil parts of your curriculum, particularly the harder to complete areas such as leadership.
- Networking. Many representatives build relationships with educators and administrators in their trust. They can offer advice, guidance and mentorship for your future career.
What are the qualities of being a good representative?
Like any role, there are multiple ways you can approach being a good resident doctor representative. However, the following skills are essential to anyone in the post.
- Good communication and presentation skills
- Approachability – have good interpersonal skills
- Energy and enthusiasm; proactivity
- Commitment, a drive for improvement
- Good organisational skills
- Respect, sensitivity and diplomacy – Being prepared to represent views you may not necessarily share
- Collaborative approach
- Problem solving skills
- Understanding of your role and the system
Where can I find out more?
All local representatives should undergo face to face training in their trust. If you haven’t heard about this, contact your education centre about where it is being held in your area. This page contains lots more resources on being a representative too.