Author: Dr Andrew Leech, General Practitioner & Owner of the Garden Family Medical Murdoch
5 positive aspects of working as a general practitioner
- Continuity of patient care: Being present throughout a patient’s lifespan is a unique and valuable privilege. We can establish rapport and hold a unique bond with our patients that is unlike any other medical specialty. Over time, we not only get to play an important part in patients’ lives but also get to know their family, friends, and networks. Seeing how the work that we do can make a positive difference in the lives of our patients is constantly rewarding.
- Working as a team: Connecting with other GP’s, nurses, reception staff, allied health professionals and members in pathology is integral to streamline care. This natural approach in GP helps us to have a team-like environment so that we are never alone and the work that we do can be optimised.
- Being able to sub-specialise: Nowadays most GP’s will find a ‘niche’ that they enjoy and find great fulfilment in. There are many options available for additional training and the scope is wide. Notably, sub-specialising may also include opportunities outside of the traditional realms of medicine, such as leadership, education, and business ownership.
- The variety of medicine is huge! GPs now need to know a lot about everything. The variety of medicine is so broad that it means we never stop learning and are always actively exploring ways to improve our knowledge and skills. It also means that no two days are the same, that every moment may be a challenge and that every patient encounter can unique and interesting.
- Work life balance: Whilst GPs work hard, we can modify our work schedule to suit our life. Many GPs chose to work part-time and spend other days of the week in other areas of medicine, in education or perusing various other personal commitments. Many GP’s also have families and the benefit of having weekends free and not being on-call can be an important advantage.
5 challenging aspects of working as a general practitioner
- Time: There is never enough time to do everything within a single consultation. We also have long waitlists, and the current national shortage of GPs mean that we are under pressure to see more and do more for patients with less time.
- Remuneration: We may be seen as being less well paid than our other specialist colleagues. Indeed, the offset of a work/life balance is the sacrifice of some income. However, in saying this, most full-time GPs would earn more than $300,000 per annum which provides for a comfortable lifestyle and the opportunity to fulfil other interests and commitments in life.
- Complexity: Whilst our variety of work is excellent, general practice can also be very complex. We can deal with some of the sickest patients in both their physical and mental health. Restricted access to specialist and hospital outpatient clinics also means that we often are left to support these patients more regularly and, at times, do our best to keep them alive. This can be quite isolating, although many GP’s do enjoy the challenge of complex chronic disease management!
- Medicare and red tape: Medicare, Centrelink, NDIS, workers compensation etc… require a lot of understanding and can be very confusing. There is still a lot of red tape and paperwork that occurs behind the scenes, and this often goes unpaid. The system is difficult to work with at times and Medicare rebates have been frozen for over 10 years although this looks like it may improve in the coming years.
- Risk & indemnity: We are under the AHPRA system just like any other healthcare professional. Patients have the freedom to complain about us even if it is just because they didn’t like the way we did something. This can be stressful, as we are often the only person looking after the patient. Consequently, there is a significant responsibility and burden that can fall back on us, and we must be quite careful in our documentation to avoid additional risks of harm to our reputation as doctors.
