Jill O'Donnell

At first, I chose Australia for professional reasons. I first came to work for a year, to gain extra endovascular and vascular duplex skills. I really enjoyed the experience at Westmead Hospital, Sydney – working in a major tertiary hospital, living in a bustling cosmopolitan city. There were so many opportunities both professionally and personally that I wanted to stay. For this reason, I started the path for Vascular Board accreditation with the Australasian College of Surgeons. Now that I am board-certified I am setting up the new Vascular Unit in our new hospital in Queensland, which is an exciting challenge.

Work/life balance

I love it here now. Workwise, it’s very pro-clinician. Management really do listen in our hospital and we have great new facilities. Being a new hospital, it is not without its challenges and we are working through those. Australia is a melting pot of ethnic diversity, so I see lots of different pathologies. Lifestyle-wise, the Sunshine Coast is hugely attractive – you can live close to the beach, surf every day, and there is access to great facilities in our new hospital.

In Queensland, the sun rises early, as do my dogs! As soon as my eyes open around 5am, the dogs want to go for a long run on the beach beside my house. I sometimes do a bit of yoga too. Then I head to my favourite French bakery for an espresso and croissant, before heading into work. At 7.30am I do ward rounds with the juniors for about an hour, then vascular out-patients from 8.30am-12.30pm, before having a quick sandwich while I catch up on lab reports and emails. The afternoon is for my theatre list and I’ll usually be in surgery until at least 5pm before seeing patients before I go home.

I have always been good at balancing work with social life. I do think that a lot of bravado surrounds the idea of working ridiculous hours – it’s just not safe practice, that’s been proven time and time again. I lead a small cohesive group, with a collegial attitude – we cover for each other; when we are off, our colleagues cover our patients. This allows us all to have downtime.

Challenging times

Obesity results in more technical challenges for surgeons and anaesthetists. When dealing with elective surgery, I am very direct and explain it is up to the patient to take ownership of their situation, to endeavour to reduce and control their weight prior to surgery. In an emergency situation, I don’t have that luxury and the risk to the patient is exponential. Obesity rates are a massive burden on the healthcare system, eating into healthcare resources. As doctors we must repeatedly promote a healthy lifestyle and diet, reducing sugar and processed foods.

Health authorities need to be a lot more aggressive about targeting this from an early age in addition to an active lifestyle. I think this would be much more cost-effective in the long term than bariatric surgery. I have treated patients post this type of fix, who remain the same size by liquidising all their food yet consuming the same amount of calories. I don’t believe it’s a long-term answer.

Looking back

The biggest influence on my career was being taught at RCSI by Professor David Bouchier-Hayes. He was an amazing surgeon and academic, one of the smartest people I have ever met. He made vascular surgery so exciting and stimulating. I feel he fostered my interest, and supported me throughout my career. Others who made a big impression were Professors Austin Leahy, Cathal Kelly and Pierce Grace. I will be forever grateful.