The End of My Time in GP

Officially rotated to Psychiatry this week and it is quite a change from life in General Practice. I really enjoyed my time in GP though- even more convinced that it’s definitely a possibility for me in the future, exciting times!

So here are some of the highlights from my GP rotation:

What was I good at? – Managing to keep within time constraints of my consultations. I started off with half an hour allocated for appointments, and by the end of November I was seeing patients in 10 minutes and having full clinics like the actual GPs, so that was quite a huge improvement in my history taking and assessment skills.

What made me nervous? – Seeing babies and children. Everytime I saw a child on my clinic list I got a bit shook, because I was worried I didn’t know enough to assess/diagnose correctly, as well as nervous about dealing with anxious parents. I ended up bringing most children in to see in person just in case, and they ended up being some of my most memorable appointments because little kids are so cute and hilarious.

Useful thing I’ve learnt? – How to do smears and vaginal swabs! My gynae confidence has really improved because I’m now much more experienced with vaginal examinations and managing gynaecological conditions.

The last time I cried at work was? – About two weeks ago, when a patient kept shouting at me because I didn’t prescribe what she’d read about online. She accused me of not caring about her condition, threatened to kill herself, saying I would be to blame for this, and then hung up on me. It was AWFUL. My supervisor had to get involved and the patient eventually apologised but my gosh, I was very upset by it all.

My happiest work moment so far was? – When I followed my gut and fought for a patient to have an urgent scan- he’d had a fall a month prior and I was calling to review his hand. It was only towards the end of the call that he mentioned in passing that he’d been having headaches since the fall, and this rang alarm bells for me. Anyway, he sent this to the practice after the scan confirmed he’d had a subdural bleed; my first patient thank you letter 😊 We thank God!

A memorable non-med related thing I have done: Got back into baking my signature banana breads in lockdown, but Boss bakes so much better than me and my efforts really pale in comparison to his. Sigh.