Tag: GP burnout

Why I am still fighting for general practice

Why I am still fighting for general practice

Posted by | 8 Dec 2017 | |

General practice can sometimes feel like a battleground… it certainly has a fight on its hands but it is a fight that is worth fighting.     Peter Aird is a GP in Bridgwater, Somerset. GP practices are closing at an alarming rate with more and more GPs abandoning the profession as workload rises exponentially and recruitment continues to struggle to keep up with the number of doctor leaving. Reflecting on the assertion, given some support at the 2017 RCGP conference by the chair Dr Helen Stokes-Lampard, that the causes of ill health are largely social, Dr Phil Hammond...

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General practice in Scotland and Australia: the experience of two GPs

General practice in Scotland and Australia: the experience of two GPs

Posted by | 2 Mar 2017 | , |

Jane Gall and Derek Wooff, are both general practitioners who worked in Stranraer, Scotland for 26 years and have been working in Shepparton Medical Centre for the last 6 years. General practice is a good job. It uses knowledge, experience, judgement and intuition to provide appropriate care and this complex process is both stimulating and rewarding. Currently with rising patient expectations and decreasing investment, solutions to workload issues may benefit from broader thinking and looking to other models of care. We wish to reflect on our experience of translating care from the NHS in Scotland to Medicare in Australia....

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The importance of self care for GPs: tackling burnout through comedy

The importance of self care for GPs: tackling burnout through comedy

Posted by | 19 May 2016 | |

Ahmed Z Kazmi is a doctor and stand-up comedian. If you would like to see his show ‘Doctor in the House’ he will be performing at Brighton Fringe 20-24th May 2016, Hollywood Fringe 19th-26th June 2016 and Edinburgh Fringe Festival 4-14th August 2016. For lots more information and to purchase tickets please go to www.doctorahmed.net At my medical school interview I was asked what I did to relax, I remember thinking that was an odd question. My GP training curriculum included lectures entitled ‘How to avoid burn out’ and I remember sighing and rolling my eyes. It was not until I...

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“I am sorry”: Burnout, bad day or normal general practice?

Posted by | 1 Jun 2015 | |

Dr S Vashisht qualified in Cardiff, trained in London and is a GP in Nottingham. It will be our 30 year re-union soon and I will be travelling to Cardiff to reminisce with my classmates of 1985. That Class of 1985 is now full of fifty-something-year-old doctors. Thirty years is a long time in medicine. I can remember that as a newly trained GP, my non-medical friends would tell me their tales of experience with the health service and with their GPs.  “I have phoned my GP for an appointment and I have been given an appointment in two weeks’ time. Two weeks’ time! I am ill now, and I could be dead in two weeks” one friend told me. I tried in vain to explain about the system of appointments. My friend didn’t understand that most flu-like illnesses are self-limiting. She felt unwell and wanted to feel better as soon as possible. Surely her GP should be able to prescribe something that would make her feel better? Thirty years later I have a similar conversation with many patients. They do not want to take time off work, because of the strict monitoring of ‘sick time’ off in most work places. They have been unwell for three, five or seven days already. I examine them and tell them that it may take up to 3 weeks to get better...

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BJGP Book Review: Out of Chaos Comes a Dancing Star

Posted by | 24 Apr 2015 | , |

Out of Chaos Comes a Dancing Star: Notes on Professional Burnout by Chris Ellis. OpenBooks Press, 2014, PB, 95pp, £18, http://www.lastoutpost.info This book review was written by Ami Sweetman and was in the April 2015 issue of the BJGP. The author of this book has a fellowship and doctorate in family medicine, and from 2005 to 209 was an associate professor of family medicine at the University of the United Arab Emirates. He is now back home, semi-retired, and doing family practice in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. The opening quote from the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche sets the tone, ‘Out of chaos comes a dancing star’, which in its fuller context reads: ‘One must have chaos in oneself to give birth to a dancing star.’ The text derives from his collection of notes taken from experience, workshops, and courses on the management of stress and burnout in medical doctors, and those involved in the healing professions, although he says it applies to all professionals whether in law, business, or driving the school bus. Stress is a common theme risking progression to burnout. His work shows that understanding another person’s trials and tribulations can be a source of inspiration. Although the text has a serious undertone it sparkles with wit throughout. Insights into some of the struggles experienced by healthcare professionals are revealed, creating an awareness of the similarity of concepts and conditions encountered by all doctors....

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