Medicus April 2016

P R E S I D E N T ’ S D E S K

Stamp out instances which diminish our proud profession

T his edition of Medicus has on the topic as recently as October. I applaud my friend and colleague Dr Tony Bartone, President of AMA Victoria, for the outstanding work he and his colleagues have done in convening a symposium. The College of Surgeons' good work continues. Other state AMAs and Colleges are responding to the issue. In WA, we have convened a taskforce with nominees from the Health Department and representatives of the AMA to progress the issue. I am delighted that AMA (WA) Vice President and Head of Department, Orthopaedic Surgery at Fremantle Hospital, Dr Omar Khorshid, and Head of Department, Orthopaedic Surgery at Princess Margaret Hospital, been dedicated to the issue of Sexual Harassment. I wrote

Dr Kate Stannage, have accepted my invitation to represent their colleagues on this important group. Dr Melita Cirillo, previously Chair of the AMA Doctors in Training Committee, is also on the Taskforce and will provide an important junior doctor perspective. There can be no question that sexual harassment is unacceptable, unethical and entirely inappropriate. Unsafe workplaces threaten the safety of our patients. In recent months, the AMA has also written to other major employers including the Universities, St John of God Health Care and Ramsay Health Care. We hope to continue to work collaboratively with them on this very complex problem. Of course, the dominant employer in the health system is the Department of Health. There is broad agreement that there should be a zero tolerance approach to inappropriate behaviour. Working out appropriate reporting mechanisms will require careful thought. It would be inappropriate for the AMA to ‘own’ the process with doctors in training perhaps fearing the power of consultants and their relationships with AMA Councillors. We know from the survey on Sexual Harassment in the Workplace that the Health Department does not currently have the appropriate mechanisms for it to be reported without a threat to reputation and career progression. I do not believe the Medical Board to be the appropriate authority.

Survey on Sexual Harassment in the Workplace, which show exactly how hard our colleagues have found it to report incidents in the past. Any mechanism also needs to recognise principles of natural justice in protecting the accused. We have seen with the change to the reporting culture to the Medical Board and AHPRA in recent years, how easy it is for our colleagues to face great stress, sadness and anxiety from vexatious claims. Sadly, the most frivolous of complaints can still take months to go away. The processes also need to be nimble enough to recognise changes in the dynamics of the profession. The most common form of bullying and harassment I have observed in my career has been the behaviour of midwives towards male medical students and female registrars. The attitude to young men on public hospital labour wards is one factor contributing to the fact that now only around 15 per cent of trainees in my specialty of Obstetrics and Gynaecology are male. This area of practice will be richer if this number increases again. I have no doubt that surgical practice will be a great deal richer if it can fix negative aspects of its culture and encourage more women to commence and successfully complete training. This month’s edition of Medicus will make for uncomfortable reading. But the amazing response to the survey suggests that we have a very sad, but very real problem. These issues are in no way limited to medical practice, but our hierarchical

In this edition, you will see the results of the AMA (WA)

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