Venue: GP Surgery 1
In this particular Surgery there was an FY2 doctor on a placement, so I was able to spend a day with him to his approach to General Practice. It was definitely worthwhile and a great perspective to be able to spend time with a Junior Doctor and see how they practice Medicine. I was also able to speak to him about his experience of medical school which was a really good insight.
The Junior Doctor was given a list of patients who he would be seeing, but he was given a slightly longer time for each consultation because he hadn’t qualified as a General Practioner yet so wouldn’t be able to complete the role in the same way yet. This allowed me to be able to truly appreciate the time pressure GPs are expected to work under whilst still ensuring they have explored the relevant depth and detail that a patient requires to reach an accurate diagnoses.
There was quite a few people who required a repeat prescription for their asthma due to the Winter season. It is important to be thorough and recheck the patient even though they saying that they require the same medication every year at this time. The doctor still examined them to make sure the specific type and dose of medicine was still relevant for their needs. Many people also required referrals which the doctor was able to provide. The Practice had a list of different places which certain people may need referring to as this is one of the main roles of a GP since it is a Primary Care Centre. A lot of the people also came in to ask for advice and to double check certain things. One of the patients I saw today was a pregnant lady who had a cold. She wanted to take some medication for it, but wasn’t sure about which medication would be appropriate for her to have. All doctors at the surgery have a medical handbook handy in the rooms. It would be a bit overwhelming if doctors were able to remember all the details, symptoms side effects and doses of every single drug and for each age so it made sense that this was available for use. The doctor checked some medicines up in the book and then assured the lady that certain doses of certain medicines would be okay for her to have. This consultation didn’t take long…the doctor was able to give her a prescription and she was happy with this and left feeling more comfortable.
However, some of the consultations were a little more complicated and would have been more easier for an experienced GP. The Junior Do for did not want to give any false or incorrect information, so when he wasn’t sure about something, he rang one of the GPs and quickly went and had a chat with him regarding the patient (providing that he wasn’t with a patient of course.
Life of a Medic 