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Jono Brüün updates you on the College's approach to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Wellbeing is a fashionable term at present and for some will cause instant eye-rolling. We sympathise with this reaction – the word has a lot of unhelpful connotations including, probably most problematically, that it offers yet another opportunity to fail at something else in your life. You are already overwhelmed by work and home stressors, and now you’re also not getting your wellbeing right and that’s why you’re struggling.

Please know this gentle advice comes from a place of compassion and acknowledgement of the wonderful job you all do. After everything anaesthetists have had to deal with over the last few years, we tip our hats to the courage and resilience of our profession.

Here are some top tips for anaesthetist wellbeing (in no particular order):

Critical terms must be clearly and consistently used. 

For example, UK law recognises protected titles; ‘general practitioner’, ‘registered nurse’, or ‘paramedic’ have specific meanings, and to use one carries legal weight. Interestingly ‘surgeon’ appears on the GMC’s list of legally protected titles, but ‘anaesthetist’ does not.

While meaning can appear clear from context, ambiguity creates risk. It need not be highly technical terminology to cause problems. Misunderstanding of ‘OK’ contributed to the 1977 Tenerife air disaster, where a tower controller probably intended ‘I acknowledge your request to take off’, but the flight commander understood ‘you are giving me clearance for take-off’. The Boeing 747 accelerated down the runway, and shortly thereafter collided with another aircraft.