Watching Surgeon Bong Dal-hee inadvertently made me reminisce about work.
Warning: spoilers ahead!
Dal-Hee off after the incident when the Chief Doc fell asleep and Dal-Hee carried out the surgery on her own. Dr Ahn (in spectacles) is the 'suffers no fools' mentor who won't hesitate to call the first years 'moron' or 'stonehead' (that's what it says in the subtitles!) because in his brilliant mind, they are morons and stoneheads for all the mistakes they make. Hence he is both respected and feared.
As they were all thrown into a high-stress, fast-paced situation, the 4 interns inevitably become good friends and look out for each other. Even the cold and aloof Jo Ara (2nd from left) becomes caring and helpful towards Dal-hee in the end.
But Lee Min-woo must be the ideal colleague. He is the rich kid who zips around in his
red sports car but he is so selfless. He covers Dal-hee's duties without complaint whenever she is unwell, and in the end he chides both Dal-hee and Jo Ara for not having told him earlier about Dal-hee's heart condition (implying that he would have covered more for her if he had known). When Dr Park has to take on extra part-time work to pay off debts, he also covers for him. And despite getting yelled at so many times by Dr Ahn, he remains unfazed and just takes it all in his stride.
Warning: spoilers ahead!
Mentors (the head surgeons)
2 contrasting mentoring styles. Dr Lee (in background) is friendly, kind and understanding, though he did tell the Chief Doctor and 
Dal-Hee off after the incident when the Chief Doc fell asleep and Dal-Hee carried out the surgery on her own. Dr Ahn (in spectacles) is the 'suffers no fools' mentor who won't hesitate to call the first years 'moron' or 'stonehead' (that's what it says in the subtitles!) because in his brilliant mind, they are morons and stoneheads for all the mistakes they make. Hence he is both respected and feared.I have known both types of mentors. I never thought about this before but it's actually the latter type who have made more of an impression on me. I have worked under/with a couple of extremely sharp and quick brains (not mine, obviously, ha ha). They were not meanies but they did not hesitate to put their fingers exactly on mistakes, areas of weaknesses, etc. I have to say I learnt a lot from these experiences because I was motivated to be sharper and quicker and to always do my best. Also, these two ladies were, deep down, truly genuine and kind-hearted people, so I liked them as well as respected them.
I like how both Dr Lee and Dr Ahn, in their own ways, talk frankly about their past mistakes, in order to encourage the 1st years, who were rather easily thrown off when their 'wrong' decisions led or almost led to death. I don't remember any of my 'official' mentors doing this but of course it happened a lot among peers and with 'seniors'. That is something I miss a lot about work, learning from each other.
Another thing about mentoring that struck me was how the head surgeons encourage the interns to have minds of their own. No doubt, surgery must be one thing where rookies have to be told exactly what to do, but ultimately, they have to develop their own responses to situations. Thankfully, I never had a direct supervisor who breathed down my neck, told me what exactly to do (except for technical, official things which had to be done in a certain way) or wanted to, ahem, 'hold my hand' in my early days. Eeewww... I would have hated that.
Colleagues
As they were all thrown into a high-stress, fast-paced situation, the 4 interns inevitably become good friends and look out for each other. Even the cold and aloof Jo Ara (2nd from left) becomes caring and helpful towards Dal-hee in the end.But Lee Min-woo must be the ideal colleague. He is the rich kid who zips around in his
red sports car but he is so selfless. He covers Dal-hee's duties without complaint whenever she is unwell, and in the end he chides both Dal-hee and Jo Ara for not having told him earlier about Dal-hee's heart condition (implying that he would have covered more for her if he had known). When Dr Park has to take on extra part-time work to pay off debts, he also covers for him. And despite getting yelled at so many times by Dr Ahn, he remains unfazed and just takes it all in his stride.The best part about colleagues is when they become friends, of course. That's one part of work that I miss a lot.
Work ethic
Must remember to take a leaf or two from the characters if/when I go back to work. Work with passion, determination and perseverance. Believe in yourself, hold your head up and look ahead.
The interns all had their own 'baptisms of fire'. After coming out of his alive (his patient too), Dr Park said, 'I thought I would never be able to smile again.' Haven't we all had such moments, when the going got so bad that we thought things could only get worse but they got better in the end?
I also found the issues the doctors had to deal with very interesting - balancing their patients' wishes with their 
professional judgement or personal feelings, making ethical decisions, treating criminals (left), the patient with AIDS, patients who could not afford expensive procedures, etc. I can only say that doctors really have a lot on their plates and I'm glad I was never expected to make life and death decisions.
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