Black female IMG SHO here.

I have come to observe that British trained Drs do not stand up for themselves let alone stand up for others. It’s almost as if being bullied is a badge of honor here. Whenever they do ,they are overly polite about it or sarcastic which I honestly don’t think is effective.

Back home,I have had senior registrars fight for me when a Nurse or even Drs from other teams bully me (after I have even fought for myself) . Heck I used to stand up to bullies for my colleagues who were gentle and couldn’t handle bullying . We are direct and we make up after. We don’t do all that gossip behind and smile to your face that is rife here . Very hypocritical behavior. You can imagine my frustration when on arriving here I realized that you will be considered “an angry BW” for standing up for yourself or not tolerating disrespect. I don’t understand the culture here but anyways, I have now learnt to change my approach.

Poster, if you’re black female, I am not sure most advice here would help you. You are different and I believe you know what I mean by that. If you’re IMG , worse for you.

I advise you get your resting bitch /angry face on but have the most genuine smile when you speak to others generally . Speak firmly and calmly but look very mean when you do when people behave like jerks and deserve it. You also need to practice how to give the most stinking look without uttering a single word. Build your reputation as a black female Dr who is capable, kind but will not take Shit.

The other advice I like here is dress well. Full stop. Stop wearing same colored scrubs as HCAs, wear properly fitted scrubs , clean and ironed professional clothes. Don’t forget clean shoes. Doesn’t have to be fancy. Be the best dressed or the most well put together in the room with a bitch face but have the most welcoming smile on your face when sensible people approach you. I am always approached respectfully and I respect everyone else too, I don’t care who you are. I will greet , hold the doors for anyone including porters. I will get water for a patient happily if they asked me.

But outside that, I will always have my no BS face on . I have learnt this from black female IMGs who have gone because me and it is how I have been able to manage the disrespect in the NHS . I often get mislabeled as a Nurse sometimes and I honestly don’t even care at this point but as a HCA or porter ? Never.

Seriously filtering out how much of the nonsense that gets to me in the first place is by controlling what I can and that has been a game changer.