Serious doctor with a reduced staff (7)
I believe the answer is:
drastic
'serious' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'doctor with a reduced staff' is the wordplay.
'doctor with' becomes 'dr' (abbreviation. I am not sure about the 'with' bit.).
'reduced' means to remove the last letter.
'staff' becomes 'stick' (I've seen this before).
'stick' with its last letter taken away is 'stic'.
'dr'+'a'+'stic'='DRASTIC'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for drastic that I've seen before include "'Severe, extreme (7)'" , "Severe and far-reaching" , "Radical, extreme" , "Having strong effect" , "Violent Doctor Crippen starts drinking wine" .)