Discipline

"What do you make out of XXX's emails ?" I asked LS.

"What do you think ?" my friend asked back.

"I suppose we are going to defer some of the poorly performed interns ?" I was rather naive.

"Well, do you know the procedure of doing so ?" She went on.

"So it is complicated ?"

"Not quite - although it could be a torture to us. You see, we first have to see them and list the event that we are not satisfied. We then give a verbal warning. After some time, if there is no improvement, we see them again and give a written warning. It needs another while and we have to review the situation again. Deferral could only be issued if things remain bad ..." She explained.

"And ... ?" I saw that she had not finished.

"And, all through the process, the intern could give explanations to their poor performance. Many a time the stories they put up are obviously excuses, but we have to accept and do away with the formal warning - because we usually have no evidence to prove that the story is fake." Check.

"Moreover, procedures take time," I began to saw her point, "It is difficult to have all these finished in a 3-month rotation - unless you start the ball rolling from their first day. In fact, if a house officer deliberately performs badly in the last week or two, there isn't even enough time to give a verbal warning !"

Checkmate.

PS. No wonder the last rotation of houseman starts on 1st April. We are treated as fools.