Being a doctor is not enough
As so many people have, over my life I have found myself visiting doctors, whether that be GP or A&E (insects and I are a bad combination, ). Those closest to me have visited doctors with their own personal struggles in the hope of treatment or cure, which is not always possible. All doctors have one thing that they truly control and that is the relationship they are able to build and the manner which they interact with their patients.
Medicine is a demanding career and the stresses that medical professionals feel can sometimes be incomprehensible. However, when things don’t go quite right, it is the patient who truly pays the price. Whatever a medical professional is feeling, just know your patients are going through it too. It truly pains me to see the way that patients are treated by their doctors, or even how medical professionals interact with one another. I would like to make it clear that this does not include ALL doctors, but I have had one too many negative encounters with doctors and those around me have paid the price for a doctor’s poor management of their patient relationship.
A few years back I lost someone very close to me. Understandably this left me in quite a “low mood,” and something didn’t feel quite right. I made the decision to visit my GP, where when asked what brought me in, she followed up quickly saying “I don’t have time to listen to your full story because you’ve arrived late”. I was 5 minutes late. She went on to force anti-depressants onto me, and when I wasn’t particularly keen on taking any, her response was, “You are mentally sick and if you don’t take them you’ll stay that way.” The GP single-handedly caused more harm than the loss itself. Needless to say I never returned. There’s no point raising awareness for men’s health, if the people who are meant to support them are the ones causing more harm.
This year we were asked to write a reflection for our portfolio. I decided to reflect on my first day of GP placement. I personally saw the stresses of the job and how demanding it can be. The sheer number of patients per day was overwhelming. I definitely felt for the GP, but I didn’t feel that their handling of patients was acceptable. Patients often felt unheard and shut down. Their concerns were made to feel minor, and they were turned away. I often imagine they felt the same as I did following my appointment those years ago. Having written my reflection and read through, it was honest. But, it was far too critical and I felt it wasn’t “appropriate” for my portfolio. I regret not handing in that reflective piece, doctors need to be held accountable for their treatment of their patients.
A final story I would like to share is one that a family member of mine recently experienced. Having struggled with an illness for a while, they required a procedure to relieve some of the symptoms. They were left in a room throughout the day with no sign of the surgeon who would be performing the procedure, and returned to that room later to be left overnight with no understanding of what had happened or what the outcome was. It is my belief that the minimum the surgeon could have done was come and introduce themselves, and explain the procedure. I also believe that it is necessary for a surgeon to explain how it went and be there for the patient when they are awake. It is patients who are the true protagonists in these situations, as they endure anticipation anxiety, and they have to put their trust in a complete stranger. I would argue that the surgeons have the easier job of performing the procedure.
This is a systemic problem which starts well before someone becomes a surgeon. Over the last year I have been shocked by the toxic culture where individuals believe that they are elite because they have been accepted into medical school. Scoring an A in chemistry is not an indication of being a good doctor and I would argue you could teach anyone the content, and a greater emphasis is needed on the individual’s character entering the profession.
My genuine wish is that we learn that this profession is one of service to others and not for our own personal gain. In the future I hope that this reminds me to always put my patients first, and I want to be held accountable to that.
