Life of a Medical House Officer

House officers are junior doctors who graduate from a college or university after completing their basic education. These graduate students enter hospitals with outstanding character for at least 12-month period in relevant departments for basic clinical practice known as house jobs.

House Officers perform all mandatory duties as per international standards including proper medical care, monitoring vitals, taking medical history, collecting blood samples, passing nasogastric tubes and Foley catheters, maintaining files etc, and advising investigations, providing emergency care as well.

Apart from this clinical Practice, House Officers have to participate in academic activities such as making presentations on given topics, passing ward tests etc.
They are given a farewell on completion of their particular rotation. Excellent remarks are also given to them for their satisfactory performance throughout the tenure.

These doctors have to perform all other duties that are not included in their standard, like taking patients for various investigations in various departments around the hospital, taking opinions from other concerned departments which others staff can also do.They waste a lot of time in such tedious work and by doing this they are not able to concentrate on their practice. Sometimes it affects their physical and mental health and they regret choosing this field.

Nowadays, where there are many house doctors in hospitals, the government has not set up some beneficial policies for their due stipend, due to which many doctors have to work without receiving stipend, and among them Most are foreign graduates and local graduates from private medical colleges.

This is a kind of disenfranchisement policy for the bright stars of the nation. Faced with the financial crisis, many doctors are depressed and losing heart in this field, but the government is not paying any special attention. There is no doubt that this period of one year is quite favorable and pleasant for them, but during this time they also have to endure a lot as the workload increases and options decrease.

Hospital management and department in-charges should take note of these common problems. “House Doctors” are actually guest as they have a short time in their specific departments, so the aim should be to make them learning centers and a conducive environment for turning them into excellent doctors should be provided to them.