GP AUSTRALIA

Liz Connor

University of Notre Dame medical student Elizabeth Connor travelled an unusual path into medicine but hopes to continue the journey into general practice.

Liz started out with a dream of becoming an actress, took a false start with law, completed a Bachelor of Arts at University of Western Australia then yearned for a more practical career—and applied for medicine.

When her timetable permits, Liz performs in shows which she hopes to continue in a general practice career.

She recently participated in the GPSN Schwartz First Wave Scholarship Program which gave her the opportunity to experience general practice at Fremantle Hospital General Practice, in addition to university rotations.

‘My placement was really interesting, thought provoking and helped me to better understand general practice. I had two very open, caring doctors as mentors who were willing to share their stories with me,’ Liz said.

The placement gave Liz the opportunity to consolidate clinical skills and better understand common medical conditions, learn practical tips in terms of consultation style, the art of taking histories, performing examinations and various referrals, assessments and procedures.

Learning practical skills in the placement will be invaluable to Liz during her study and later working life but the experience had a more profound effect.

She was humbled by the privilege of access to people’s lives through patients sharing their life stories, often with complex medical histories and unusual conditions.

Liz’s advice to other medical students contemplating the specialty of general practice, is keep an open mind and seek out a variety of general practice placements.

No member of Liz’s immediate family has a medical background so she has travelled this path on her own, but was shaped by early memories of her former general practitioner who has since passed away.

Even though Liz has few preconceived ideas about general practice, she is aware of some of the stereotypes.

‘I had heard funny old stereotypes that you see coughs and colds, but never get interesting work because you are always referring. First impression; they got it all wrong,’ she said.

The factors that attract Liz to general practice as a specialty are the ‘great medicine’ elements of diversity, the complexity of cases, the depth of investigation required to piece clues together and the unique relationship with each patient.

Although still only a medical student, Liz is already attracted to the sub-speciality of mental health.
‘I believe that mental health is invaluable to general well-being and that the power of the mind cannot be underestimated. It can be a positive and a negative element of health; I’m interested in working with people to manage their psychological wellbeing,’ she said.

Another element that attracts Liz to general practice is the lifestyle factor that she hopes to be able to balance with her other loves of acting and painting. To complement this, Liz believes her nature is suited to general practice.

‘The one-on-one nature of general practice lends itself to a style of interaction I naturally tend towards.’

Case study contributed by the General Practice Registrars Australia program General Practice Students Network www.gpsn.org.au