Jonathan Sunkersing is a GP and sleep medicine expert dedicated to transforming primary care by tackling the systemic “sleep tax” on both patients and theworkforce. He is on LinkedIN.
The red notification dots on my clinical screen are more than just tasks; they are digital signals of what we do. 24 lab reports. 28 discharge summaries. 12 urgent callbacks. In the quiet roar of a Monday morning in General Practice, the sheer volume of the ‘What,’ the metrics, the filing, the relentless throughput, drowns out the ‘Why.’ I’ve started my day but, by 10am, I have often forgotten why I am even sitting at my desk in the first place.
The ‘Why’ does not have a red notification dot. It doesn’t ping, and it doesn’t demand immediate filing. Ignoring it is perhaps the most dangerous clinical error a doctor can make.
Currently, our healthcare system treats the clinician’s ‘Why,’ the passion for healing and kindness, as an infinite resource. It is not. It is a finite neurochemical state and it is being depleted by the ‘What.’ When we spend our best concentration on navigating unwieldy IT systems, chasing QOF targets and remembering the latest updated guideline, we have very little left for the person sitting in the chair.
The ‘Why’ does not have a red notification dot. It doesn’t ping, and it doesn’t demand immediate filing. Ignoring it is perhaps the most dangerous clinical error a doctor can make.In General Practice, we risk becoming technicians of disease labels…hypertension, insomnia, cancer. These are medical ‘Whats.’ Consider the patient presenting with chronic insomnia. In a system overwhelmed with the ‘What’ the solution was binary: a sleep hygiene leaflet or further prescription for Z-drugs. We previously treated insomnia as a symptom to be suppressed. However, when we look for the “why” we often discover a complex, multi-layered story.
When we explore the story behind the patient, the oft-mentioned ideas, concerns and expectations, we are finally practicing medicine. More importantly, we are replenishing our own reserves and reminding ourselves of our raison d’être. Investigating the “Why” in General Practice is not an add-on to our growing workload, but it is the very thing that makes the workload sustainable.
To emulate the great generalists of the past, we must realise that our value and satisfaction does not lie in how many dots we turn from red to black. It lies in our ability to remain human in a system that prioritises speed and quantity. If we lose the “Why”, we aren’t just exhausted, we are obsolete. We must protect our sense of purpose as the cornerstone of our clinical safety, for, ultimately, they are the same thing.
Featured Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
