Transitional Millennial Emergency Physician

Are you a 90's kid in the hospital jungle ? Read on . If you ain't , then you definitely should! Lets vent together. Generations have not become a part of conversation but generations have become "the" conversation at work.We are seeing the wave of millennials to come to work.We are preparing Gen Z to come to work.We are preparing for natural disasters. We are preparing for 23-year-olds to come to work.

Transitional Millennial Emergency Physicians:

I take the credit of this term. We are people with mixed ethics, ethics of millenials and GenZ.

90s borns we are actually stuck at workplace. Why? Let me explain.

1) We are not the first but third generation of emergency physicians. We don't have the BEST ERs , but not like they were in the stone age ( Early 2000's).

2) People know we exist . Not sure of what we do. 

3) Its assumed we know everything or nothing.

4) The bar to cross on is high.

5) Things what ER Physicians did in 8 years, we are expected to do in 4 years.

6) The idea to err and learn is bygone. You just have to be informed.

7) Patients have way too much expectations from the ERs , which is nice if the patient is sick otherwise counseling...

8) We are expected to be tech savy , easy going with work relation, extremely comfortable with fellow Physicians and disrespectful towards older ones.

9) Its assumed that all of us drink , smoke and date everyother person.

10) Its assumed that everybody is career oriented.

 

11) Its assumed youre not academically sharp like the new crop and not hardworking like the first generation of Emergency Physicians.

 Whats being done?

12) Its said that We are not focussed.

13 ) We don't care for the patient enough.

14) We think only about food.

15) We don't value money / all we care for is money.

16) We don't like to work out of our comfort zone.

17) We live in virtual world.

It makes me extremely happy to see hospitals and I've heard amazing things that they're doing to create a workspace for everybody to get along and to have autonomy and to feel like they're thriving. 

But I've also heard some really incredible ideas about how to navigate the multigenerational workplace. Get ,set ,go!

Number 1

A concept that" if you can see it, you can be it. "A really important concept. But I think they blew it. 

Number 2

Couple of big corporate hospitals have tried something else.Some decided against putting a ball pit in the break room because that's how you retain millennials. We're touching thirty , not three. 

Number 3

The most important one.That I ve given upto. Gotten used to.If you want people to take you seriously, wear formals. I wear them, because I believe I look good in formals. 😊

Role of hospitals 

Hospitals that employ a wide range of people of various ages. We are so much more similar than we are different. And we're hearing this consistently. People want work that matters, they want flexibility, they want support, they want appreciation, they want better coffee. But none of these things are tied to a generation.

 Now, sure, we see small differences in what people want. We know 20-year-olds and 40-year-olds go home and do different things. They have different values. Atleast when it comes to things happening outside of work. 

But I think what's happened is that this focus on generations, these groups of people, has created a space where we just forgot that people are people. And to know who they really are, who we really work with. Call me a typical millennial, but I think we can get there. And I don't think the idea is too terribly difficult. 

What if we meet people where they are? I've had a lot of conversations with people who happened to identify with a specific generational cohort. I know that 80-year-olds text message and 23-year-olds being super spiritual. None of these things are stereotypical of that generation, right? 

Nilofer Merchant , a thought leader in innovation " we have to meet people in their onlyness, that is, that spot in the world where only we stand, as a function of our unique history, our experiences and our hopes. But this requires flexibility and curiosity."

Suddenly, when you meet people in their onlyness, that spot in the world only they stand, we're not talking about a generation anymore. 

 I think there's just no need to argue about which generation of emergency physician is the most angry or the most entitled or the most so obsessed with food. We all come to the to work, back to our homes, a little bit tired and a little bit tattered sometimes. Maybe let's just do our best to humbly meet emergency physicians where they are. And make peace with the fact that it can feel a little bit like intergenerational warfare.

So far so much!