What's your biggest achievement ?

“Sir, I stayed back just because of you.”

“Sir, you took care of everyone like a cocoon.”

“Sir, whenever you’re there on duty with me, I know nothing will go wrong, no matter how serious the patient may be.”

These were some of the words from my residents during an impromptu get together of my department last week, which was also a farewell treat for 2 of my residents who had worked in our A&E for more than 1-2 years.

As sad and emotional I am (which I don’t express) to see them leave for personal (marriage) / professional growth, there is a sense of pride that wherever they go, I’m sure they will excel with the knowledge, training and experience they’ve gained with us.

I will soon be completing 3 years with my current organization, and I was left wondering what the biggest achievement for me would be here, and in the other organizations where I’ve set up the A&E departments from a relatively clean slate – was it the protocols, the paperwork, the SOPs, the policies, the increase in revenue, improvement in quality of care, the awards, the trophies, etc?

But nothing seems to come close to the satisfaction & sense of TOUCHING LIVES, being successful in CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT, A CULTURE IN THE DEPARTMENT which is friendly, positive, educative, calm; an environment where your juniors feel valued, supported, feel safe, their mental health, their physical health, their family time, leaves are taken care of; with a clear vision that they learn, train, grow, up-skill themselves for their future and move forward in their journey with pride and gratitude towards their mentor, and know that they can always fall back on for guidance. This is surely the biggest achievement for a Head / Guide !!