Last month a group of female surgical on-call doctors shared a celebratory selfie on Twitter, but they had no way of knowing it would reach more than 170,000 people.
Locum registrar Miss Kat Parmar decided to post the photo after colleagues suggested it would be a positive image for young girls looking to follow in their footsteps.
Kat, who is currently doing surgical research in Manchester and does occasional locum shifts across different hospitals in the North West, noticed that many of the junior doctors on call that weekend were surprised and pleased to be part of an all-female surgical team.
“Although I see this with increasing frequency as a senior surgical trainee who works with female surgical consultants regularly, it’s something others don’t see as often,” she said. “I was overwhelmed by the response, feeling proud that the image had provided inspiration.”
The tweet captured the imagination of many using the social media platform, being shared almost 700 times, liked almost 3,000 times, generating a mountain of replies and appearing in more than 170,000 news feeds.
An unexpected bonus was when a patient treated that weekend got in touch to praise and thank them for their care.
“It is always a privilege to hear that people are happy with the care they received,” she added. “This is the first time I have ever heard this via Twitter though!”
Kat is now looking forward to working again at the Countess, having always held the hospital in high regard.
“I think what makes the Chester General Surgery team special is that they all enjoy working together and are happy to do that little bit extra for their patients and for their colleagues,” she said. “A team who work effectively together make it a pleasure to come to work and most importantly, create the best environment for good patient outcomes. I look forward to working with them again!”
Surgical Consultant Mrs Jennie Grainger said: “It was a pleasure to work with the team on call that weekend. I would hope the picture highlights to young people that gender should not be an issue in any profession, and that if you work hard enough, anything is possible. I was lucky to have positive female role models throughout my career and it would be great to think this picture taken during a busy weekend on call may inspire someone out there to go for a career in surgery.”