How to improve the health and well-being of doctors as identified by junior doctors
| Theme | Subthemes | Examples |
| Role of senior doctors | Encouragement to take breaks | ‘I guess yeah, having like, like more even forcing you to take that short break to get out of that situation’. (B2) |
| Recognise workload | ‘I think that having bosses who are good leaders and good team members and the kinds of bosses who know when the workload is particularly high’. (B3) | |
| Change attitudes towards junior doctors | ‘I guess for some it would be good for them to come from an understanding that they were all once junior doctors’. (A2) | |
| Role modelling positive behaviours | ‘I have had times where the registrars have been like ‘We’re going for lunch. You should grab something as well’. (A1) | |
| Showing concern | ‘I feel like in those sorts of rotations I am always sort of a lot happier that I know the boss sort of understands or… cares, rather than someone who gets angry’. (B1) | |
| Being approachable | ‘I think interns and residents should be encouraged to clarify [medical issues], and I think that’s where having approachable registrars and bosses comes in very, I think that’s where that becomes very important’. (A10) | |
| Role of organisations | Resilience training | ‘I think the positive was that there was a discussion about resilience in the first place. I think that the fact that it exists, the workshop exists, sort of at least tells you that there’s a change’. (A3) |
| Support from medical education and support units | ‘The Medical Education Unit here is really good because they’re really friendly and they’ll meet with you if you ever need to’. (A3) | |
| Raising awareness about the issues | ‘Talking about the fact that everyone is suffering from this or suffers from it at some point… Everyone suffers from anxiety about their work or feeling defeated by their work or the fact that mental health is a real issue’. (A7) | |
| Mindfulness sessions | ‘I guess reinforcement and encouragement about the importance of it all and techniques to improve that like we had in those mindfulness sessions’. (A6) | |
| Role of individuals | Peer support | ‘I think it’s just super-important; probably the most important thing is to be able to talk to each other about the experiences, and so I’ve got a group of friends here and we go out maybe once a month’. (B3) |
| Exercise | ‘For me, like I said, the difference was making sure I kept my life outside the hospital active; exercise was brilliant’. (A5) |