Anna
Anna was very squeamish as a child and her friends and family were very surprised when she said she wanted to be a doctor.
Published: 18 October 2017
She even had a phobia of vomit and still remembers crying hysterically once when her little brother was throwing up in the car.
No one from Anna’s family works in the medical profession. She has always been particularly close to her grandma, who was really proud of her becoming a doctor. Anna used to speak to her in Welsh and now she uses every opportunity to practice her Welsh with patients.
Anna studied medicine at the University of Birmingham and she is still working on building her confidence as a doctor. She still finds reviewing patients quite scary. She admits that sometimes she spends her days off worrying that she might have done something wrong the previous day at work. She is still learning how to control her emotions and how not to get upset when she is being told off by one of the consultants. Her way of dealing with the stress is often to just have a good cry when she gets home.
Anna lives with her boyfriend, who is a pilot - “His job is more glamourous than mine”.
Anna loves to go ballroom dancing with her partner - a hobby she took up when she was still in university. She thinks that she’s a better dancer than her boyfriend and often criticises his dancing skills.
They also like to jet off together for the day in a plane. They try to fly somewhere different in the UK at least once a month for lunch. “Going up in the plane with him is terrifying but it's always cool to say we've flown somewhere for the day!!”
Anna likes every excuse to dress up and make herself look glamorous.
Q&A with Anna
What was it about being a doctor that attracted you to the role?
I think I went for medicine as a career because I used to like watching medical shows. I’ve got no doctors in the family so that was the first part that I’d seen and thought ‘maybe I could do that.’ And I really love it. Every day is different - it’s not a boring job at all, even though there can be boring paper work to do. But I like the camaraderie between the doctors and all the staff.
Is it something you’ve always wanted to?
When I was a child, I was very squeamish. So being a doctor was the last thing I would ever want to do - I think I wanted to be a pop star, an author and anything but a doctor. When I was doing my GCSEs I started thinking ‘oh, I really like science.’ Which is a little strange as no one in my family is science minded and after watching various hospital shows I thought ‘maybe I could do that’.
What are the most rewarding parts about being a doctor?
Those moments where a patient says ‘thank you so much for taking time with me’ - that’s when you think that it’s a special job that people my age don’t get to do.
And the most frustrating part about being a doctor?
I think medicine is a really hard job - it’s long hours and I find it’s one of those things you can’t switch off from. When I come home I’m always thinking ‘I wonder if I did the right thing today’, ‘how’s that patient doing?’ And also I think you have those days when you wake up when you don’t have any energy at all. But you have to be switched on and it can be quite tiring. I think this will come with experience and you get better at dealing with the hard times.
How has it been having the cameras follow you?
I really enjoyed it. It was strange at first but I got used to it. I’ve noticed that everyone else has got used to it too and it’s only when I’ve been on call and been on different wards where people do a double take when they see the camera.
Why did you want to get involved?
I used to watch the show when it was on years ago and really loved it then. So I couldn’t believe it when it came around again and I had the chance to be on it.
What do you think viewers will take away from having watched the show?
I hope it shows junior doctors in a good light and shows that we are hardworking people - even though all we do sometimes is eat. I hope it shows that it’s a hard job to do in your early twenties.
