The Thesis Plans Incident

 

Dr. VK (fictional name) joined as a junior resident in the department of surgery at Khota Medical College (fictional name). Dr. Dev (fictional name) was allotted as his thesis guide. Dr. Dev asked Dr. VK to start searching for a suitable topic and start writing a thesis plan. With a limited number of junior residents in the surgery department, Dr. VK was busy with patient-related work most of the time and he was not able to find time to research and write the thesis plan. 

For Non-Medicos: After completing their basic medical degree of MBBS, doctors in India do further specialization in either Medical or Surgical specialties, the Master of Surgery or Medicine courses. They are then known as junior resident doctors (JR). These courses are of three-year duration with a final exam at the end. In addition to the clinical work, these junior resident doctors also do research work and write a thesis. They are allotted a professor to serve as a guide in their thesis work.

The residents have to identify a specific topic or disease and read up on what research has been done and published in the medical journals previously on that topic, known as the review of the literature. Based on this review of literature they make a detailed plan and submit the plan to the medical college's academic section and ethical committee for clearance and approval. This submission of the plan has to be done within six months of joining the course. 

Then the junior resident has to do the thesis research work in the next two years period and submit the finished thesis after approval of his thesis guide, at least six months before the final exam. If the junior resident does not submit his thesis in time, he/she is not allowed to sit in his/her exam and has to give the exam after a delay of six months. But some colleges did not strictly follow these guidelines in the past as due to the less number of junior resident doctors in the department, the JRs were busy with patient-related work and do not get time for research activities.

The ideal six-month time period has passed but not even the topic was decided by Dr. VK. Then nine months and finally one year had passed. Most of Dr.VK's batch mates had submitted their thesis plans, but Dr. VK had not even decided on his thesis topic. 

In fact, a new batch of junior residents had joined the medical college. Dr. AK (fictional name) joined as his junior in the unit. A few months later the guide allotment was done for this new batch and even they started searching for a suitable topic to do thesis work, still, Dr. VK had not decided on what topic he wanted to do his thesis on.

Finally, Dr. VK received a deadline from the college authorities; to submit the thesis plan within one month or he will be not allowed to give his final exam with his batch mates. He will have to give it six months later. On the prospect of his term extension, Dr. VK got worried and requested Dr. Dev to please search for a suitable thesis topic for him. 

With his one-year delay, things had become complicated. Now a thesis topic had to be searched which can be easily completed in the 1 year remaining, instead of the two years available normally.

On a Sunday afternoon, Dr. Dev switched off his phones, put a notice on his door for his patients that he has gone outstation and will not be available for consultation, and sat on his desktop searching for the topics for the thesis. After reviewing many topics he found a topic suitable for Dr. VK which can be easily completed within 6 months. In addition, he found one more appealing topic which he thought will be great for the first-year resident, Dr. AK to do.

He downloaded the previous research paper published on both topics and took a printout on his home printer. 

The next day, Dr. Dev handed over printouts to both Dr. VK, the second-year junior resident, and Dr. AK, the first-year junior resident, and asked to them consider them as a research topic for their respective thesis. Both took the papers gratefully and said they will study them in the evening and let Dr. Dev know their opinion.

The next day, both the junior residents met Dr. Dev and agreed that they indeed want to do the thesis research work on the topics suggested by him. Dr. Dev asked both of them to start working on their thesis plan.

Within a week, Dr. VK had submitted a rough draft of his thesis plan to Dr. Dev for checking. After 2-3 rounds of checking and corrections, Dr. VK submitted the final thesis plan within the one-month deadline to the college authorities for approval. When Dr. Dev asked Dr. AK about his thesis plan, he replied I am searching and reviewing the literature on the topic you suggested.

After approval, Dr. VK started work on his thesis and within four months had completed the clinical work related to his thesis and started compiling the data in tabular form. When Dr. Dev asked Dr. AK about his thesis plan, he replied I have started writing it and will show you the first draft copy in a few days.

In a few days, Dr. VK fed the data to a computer and started the statistical analysis of the data. After the final result arrived, Dr. VK started writing the rough draft of his completed thesis. When Dr. Dev asked Dr. AK about his thesis plan, he replied I have started writing it and will show you for checking in a few days.

Even with multiple revisions to satisfy the fastidious checking of Dr. Dev, Dr. VK submitted his completed thesis copies in faux-leather binding with embossed gold letterings, along with his other batch mates even though he started one year later than most of them. And Dr. AK? He was still working on his thesis plan.

Then one day, Dr. AK received a notice from the college authorities to submit his thesis plan within one month or his term will get extended. A week later, Dr. AK bought the printout of his plan for Dr. Dev to check and submitted the final thesis plan along with the rest of his colleagues within the month.

The two junior residents, Dr. VK, the second year JR, and Dr. AK the first year JR, got the thesis topic at the same time. In the time in which, Dr. VK wrote the thesis plan and submitted the final printed copy, Dr. AK was not able to write just the thesis plan. This is an example of Parkinson’s Law which states: 

"Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."

Dr. VK had just one year to complete his thesis work, so he did it, whereas Dr. AK knew that his batch mates will submit the thesis plan in one year so he took one year to write just the thesis plan.

Cyril Northcote Parkinson was a British economist who wrote the above law in an essay published in ‘The Economist’ in 1955. He derived this aphorism from his extensive experience in the British Civil Service.

One corollary to Parkison’s Law is:

Work complicates to fill the available time.

Another well know corollary is the Stock–Sanford corollary to Parkinson's law: 

If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do.

Another corollary is (Mark) Horstman's corollary to Parkinson's law: 

Work contracts to fit in the time we give it.

 For example, Dr Dev was able to find a suitable topic for thesis in one afternoon, which Dr VK. was not able to find in a year

So put a definite deadline on your work, so that you finish your work in time. Don’t wait until the last minute to finish your work.

— ND

(Based on allegedly true incident.)

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DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purposes. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use the information herein is at your one's own risk. Before trying to emulate or follow anything the reader is well advised to take into account ethical, moral, legal, and other considerations. The author recommends that Medical Practice should be of the highest ethical and moral level keeping in mind the interest of the patient as foremost. The author recommends that Medical Education should be of the highest ethical and moral level keeping in mind the interest of the patient as foremost and according to NMC and other Board norms.