Being a GP is tricky because anything could walk through your door. My yesterday evening clinic for example had a mother who presented with inflamed polymorphic eruption of pregnancy, a patient who had been bitten by insects while gardening, a patient with a flare up of her rheumatoid arthritis, a one year old with viral induced wheeze, a woman with a UTI, a depressed patient wanting to change her antidepressants……..it’s absolutely random!!!
It’s really funny seeing how GP trainees (or indeed any kind of medical trainee in GP) react to not knowing everything and actually having to use their brain to work out what to do!
They FREAK out!
The reason is simple in my mind! Most doctors out there were at the top of their class since they were in play school! They were the ones who always had the right answer, they would be the ones that always get that A grade in their exams. Most doctors dedicate large swathes of their life devoted to gaining knowledge so that when the time comes they might know the answer!
Imagine what they must be feeling when a patient then presents with a random assortment of vague symptoms that you will never find in a textbook.
It is ironic that the education system was created to make us conform so that we could meet the needs of industrialism and yet nowadays, more and more the “good jobs” are reserved for people who can think on their feet and come up with solutions a computer can’t.
GP trainees have never been taught how to think!
Keeb's Blog 