All entries for Tuesday 18 November 2014

A day in the life of a GP!

A few weeks ago I spent a day shadowing various healthcare professionals at a GP surgery. The majority of my GP experience comes from my own visits so I was looking forward to seeing what really goes on, and getting to spend time with other members of the team.

During the day I spent time at reception, with the nurse, in the dispensary department, going on home visits and sitting in with the GP for their afternoon clinic. Getting to experience so many different aspects of the practice was so interesting, and enabled me to see a wide range of patients.

In reception you would have the regular patients who loved to have a quick catch up, the patients who didn’t have time to wait for the receptionist to answer their questions, and then everyone in between. As the morning got underway the surgery got busier and busier – the phone rang incessantly and more people had follow-up appointments to book. I got to see how the electronic system worked and how every clinic was coded and ordered.

When I spent time with the nurse I mainly saw a variety of injections – whether it was for a new-born, contraceptive needs or elderly vaccinations. The nurse was great at communicating with patients of all ages – and I got to see how best to deal with a screaming infant who did not want their MMR jab, even with the bribery of stickers and sweets!

The dispensing part of the surgery was really fascinating. My GP at home doesn’t have one so it was great to learn how they work, and which patients are eligible to use them. It was also interesting to see all the different ways prescriptions can be ordered – email, phone, paper... And then just how real polypharmacy is – some patients would have boxes and boxes of tablets. The pharmacist highlighted how it is just as important for them to check the different medications as the doctor, sometimes they can suggest a better alternative or a possible reduction when they are going through a prescription.

Having the opportunity to go on a couple of home visits was great. Neither of the patients really needed to see the doctor for anything important, they were both more of just a chat, but it showed how elderly patients in particular appreciate seeing a figure they trust and can open up to. Conversely, it also showed how sometimes such patients can take up a lot of time, and increase the pressures put on GP’s schedules.

Finally, sitting in on the afternoon clinic! I loved seeing again the real mix of patients that attended. Sometimes the doctor could guess what the presenting complaint was going to be, but other times it was completely random. It also gave me the chance to see what questions I would ask, or what areas I would examine and how that differed to what was actually done. I learnt a great deal and went home with a list of things to look up!

All in all I really enjoyed my day and am looking forward to my GP placement later on. I liked it a lot more than I was expecting, and therefore it made me re-think my preconceptions for various other specialities.

Megan Earle : 18 Nov 2014 12:01 |  Tags: Generalpractitioner Gp Mbchb Patients Rachel Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem