Roisin Haslett
Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care
Hope Hospital, Salford
Roisin, how did you train in Intensive Care?
Having graduated in 1989 I spent a year in my house jobs and then did a year as a medical SHO. In 1991 I started my anaesthetics training. I trained before the formal training programme was introduced and during my anaesthesia training, I did attachments in intensive care at Hope Hospital, in Blackpool and at Stepping Hill. I also worked in other ICUs for shorter periods. I was appointed as a consultant in 1999.
Can you describe a typical working day on the ICU?
08.00 – 09.00 A general ward round of all patients on the ICU.
There are now two consultants on during the day so after the ward round the patients are divided between the consultants and we each take responsibility for half the unit, about 6-8 patients each.
09.00 – 10.45 Liaising with other teams involved in the patients’ care, general paperwork such as writing protocols, letters from the follow-up clinic, etc.
10.45 – 13.00 I do a round of the patients I am responsible for. This is a teaching round with the trainees who are also responsible for my half of the unit and possibly the pharmacists, physiotherapists, nursing staff or medical students attached to the unit as well.
13.00 – 17.00 This is taken up doing procedures, such as tracheostomies, decided on the morning ward round, teaching, seeing the relatives of patients, etc. After that I go home unless I am on call for the ICU. On call can be very busy with a large ICU full of very sick patients as well as those elsewhere in the hospital who deteriorate and need to be admitted.
What is your working pattern?
I have 6 clinical sessions, four intensive care sessions worked flexibly and two sessions for anaesthesia. The anaesthetists among us on the intensive care unit share a pool of operating lists, most of which involve big gastrointestinal cases. The remainder of the time is for non-clinical work. I also run a follow-up clinic for patients who have been on the intensive care unit. This has several functions. Most patients don’t remember much about their stay on the ICU, so we tell them. It is also important to identify physical and psychological problems following a critical illness. We have links with physiotherapy to help the physical problems and with a psychologist who deals with the psychological problems.
What attracted you to intensive care?
I have always enjoyed acute medicine and was attracted into anaesthesia for this reason. However, in anaesthesia I missed the longer-term involvement with patients and the ward environment. Intensive care gives me the mix of both of these things.
What are the advantages for you?
The main one is working flexibly. I have a different timetable each week. I also enjoy the supportive environment of intensive care and the team spirit. Not only do we share the intensive care responsibilities, but because we share anaesthetic lists we also discuss these patients. This really adds to the way the team works. I feel like we share responsibility and we share the stress.
What are the disadvantages for you?
Sometimes I would like more predictability and the workload is very heavy at times, but generally speaking I am happy in my work.
How do you balance your work and home life?
I am married and have three sons aged 5, 3 and eight months. I can’t imagine not working and I find my job very easy to explain to the children. I am very lucky to have a supportive husband and parents who are nearby. We also spend a big chunk of our income on support such as a nanny and a cleaner. This means that I don’t have to come home from work and iron shirts. I can come home and spend time with the children.
I don’t expect to be treated differently because I have children. To me it is equivalent to other people’s choice to spend time doing private practice or playing golf. I do think of the kids when I am at work and phone them regularly, but I don’t think of work when I am at home. I find my work very self-validating. The only time I had a slight problem was coming back after maternity leave. You can lose your sense of self at work while you are away and lose your confidence, but working in a supportive team makes coming back fairly painless. I don’t live to work but if I am unhappy at work, it will have an impact on my personal life too. Whereas, if I am happy at work, then I am also happy with the rest of my life.