iLoveFM.ca

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#12 - I am always learning

I love that family medicine is so broad, so diverse, and so deep, that I am always having to learn. Not just to "keep up" but to raise the level of my care, to be truly "there" for my patients, with the knowledge and skills needed to help them reach their health goals. PubMed is my friend. About once or twice per half-day clinic, I am checking something out on pubmed - looking for the latest, trying to put several different symptoms together, etc. - basically going to the literature on a regular basis to make sure that I haven't missed anything. What's really cool is when a patient is with me and does this kind of "on it" leaning forwards. I now recognize it pretty well. It's when they are keen and eager to be next to me as we jump into PubMed and figure things out, and that's just what we do. I help them over with their chair (if needed) and we check out things together. It's cool because here we are as a health dyad, learnin...

#11 - I get to help with the biggest issues facing our world today.

As a family doc, I get to be side-by-side with families and individuals in their life and health journeys. Part of these journeys are the big things facing our world: the growth of anti-vaccination ideology, the future higher-tech and low-employment world, continuing sexual and other discrimination and harassment, and more. The list is long. As their family doc, my job is to help people with whatever they need help with. Sometimes, it's helping them identify options, and sometimes it's helping illuminate how these big issues affect them. The anti-vaccine movement is a good example. I get it: I'm a dad with three kids and I don't want anything bad to happen to them, just like every single parent or guardian I have ever met. So when they decide to do their homework and find some plainly worded evidence of the value of vaccines challenged by massive amounts of social media and other digital tirades against their value, of course many will pause. Th...

#10 - Resilience-building is core to my work.

A massive part of my job is at working at the nexus of prevention and disease management: helping someone with a certain health condition not only get it under control (or maybe even totally better), but also helping them build resilience so that the future unknown slings and arrows of life don't hit them quite so hard. Resilience is critical. Life is, as Frederick Buechner said, filled with "beautiful and terrible things." The beautiful things most people can embrace; it's the terrible things that I work to help them with. Helping my patients figure out what balance and resilience is for them is pretty cool. Amazing is when we've been able to work together and make resilience a reality. I love family medicine.

#9 - I am not insulated from changes in our society

I love that I'm working in a field in which every change or shift in our society walks into the clinic rooms along with my patients. Sure, it means that I've got to stay on top of shifts in diversity thinking, our local economy, trends in popular health information, and so much more. But that's a good thing. I like that I'm at the coal face of society and the challenges people face. It means I'm not insulated: I am challenged every day, learn every day, and often become enlightened as a result of things my patients tell me. It means that if I'm going to be "there for my patients," it means I have to discard the safety of insulation and distance, and be there for real. I love family medicine.

#8 - That feeling of being present in the room with my patient

There is that special feeling when I'm with a patient, usually in a room at my clinic, when I'm really present. That I'm there with them on their health journey. Focused on them, knowing that I'm living my commitment to be there for them and their health needs, to use my full capacity, to connect them to the right resources or treatments that work for them, and knowing that this commitment is for the long-term. It's hard to describe. What I can say is that it feels almost sacred. That the person in front of me is sharing their hopes, fears, vulnerabilities, and needs, and I'm the one there to hear their hopes, fears, vulnerabilities, and needs. I am there. Sometimes the path or paths we should take are clear, sometimes not. But what is clear is my being present - I have been enabled with my training, mentorship, supports, and time to be there - present right then and there. I love family medicine.

#7 - My own life lessons learned are relevant for my patients.

I remember when I first entered practice back in 1997. I was pretty green and, while I had received outstanding training all around rural and urban Newfoundland and Labrador, I personally hadn't experienced many things that might help me as a doc. 21 years later, and wow! All the tidbits I have learned about how to make baby food, how to pace oneself after surgery, who are the other health care professionals in the community with particularly excellent unique skills, what it's like to live through an unexpected water-borne disease outbreak - all of these things and so much more I have been able to leverage. With them, I can give people more of a heads-up on what things will be like with certain medical conditions, or where to go in the city to get a particular needed item or care. I think, though, what patients most appreciate is that they know I've "been there, done that" a bit. They know that I know what some of their journey is like - not just from my t...