[Correspondence] Junior hospital doctors —time to rethink the terminology

The moment to abandon the terms junior and trainee, as applied to hospital doctors in the National Health Service (NHS), has surely come. The labels are discriminatory, belittling, untruthful in their application, and harmful to morale. Junior is misunderstood by the public and detrimental to confidence in the service, and trainee is demeaning and suggestive of incompetence and inferiority of status. We need appropriate terms to reflect the seniority and skills of this valued cadre of doctors.
Source: LANCET - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research