GP AUSTRALIA

Dr Michael Mclean

I’m a GP Registrar working in Bundaberg in Queensland and also the Team Doctor for the Australian Schoolboys rugby union team. I’m currently completing a Masters in Sports Medicine.

My involvement in sports medicine means getting out of the practice setting and being involved with local sport and games, from rugby league to hockey to soccer to cricket and others, usually on weekends. I see the athletes when they’re participating, and attend to them on the spot if they’re injured. Treating acute injury on the field, as it happens, is very different to an emergency department. Some injuries are dealt with on the field, but others need the protection of a safe medical environment – like a first-time dislocated patella.

I enrolled in medicine fairly late in life – actually in my late thirties. After over four years of hospital terms, doing other training programs and passing the entry exams for several specialties, I became disillusioned with certain alternatives and chose what was right for me and my family. Also, General Practice training appealed to me. The experienced GPs I spoke to were very collegial, reasonable and approachable. I can see myself as a GP for the long haul and with my special interest in sports and musculo-skeletal medicine, I have the freedom to explore what I really like doing within the GP setting.

In many specialties, while the background knowledge that you gain from medical school is vitally important, eventually you end up not using a lot of it. In comparison, in General Practice, a very high percentage of what you learn at medical school is relevant – whether it’s your counselling skills, psychiatry, your basic medicine knowledge and its application, paediatrics, all the various disciplines, ear, nose and throat. You need a sound basis of knowledge across a very broad range of disciplines to be efficient and effective in General Practice.

GP training is well structured, competency based, and gives plenty of ‘hands-on’ experience from the outset. There’s definitely an element of learning on the job and learning from your experiences and learning from patients as a GP registrar.

In registrar positions, there’s excellent support from GP mentors and senior GPs. I still learn quite a lot from the interactions that I have and support I get from specialists locally. Independent decision making, even with close supervision, happens early on. You quickly learn to be adaptable to the uncertainty of what the next consult may bring.

I enjoy the variety, the primary contact that General Practice provides and enjoy the holistic approach. Even though you’re not making all the management decisions for your patient and you’re referring to specialists for advice and counsel and for treatment, you do feel like you’re part of that overall process and sort of keeping everything together for the patient.

The biggest satisfaction comes from making a difference to patients’ lives. I remember after one busy day last year thinking, ‘What did I learn today?’ expecting that every day would bring some great revelation. I couldn’t think of anything and it occurred to me that maybe my role that day was just to be someone’s doctor. I think reflection upon your work is really important.

Case study contributed by General Practice Registrars Australia www.gpra.org.au