#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.

Comments

#13 - Two words: Jane Philpott

Wow. I just read the Honourable Jane Philpott's interview in Maclean's found here . Not only has she cut through all the noise and distraction about the SNC-Lavalin and made the essential issues clear, not only has she has put the primacy of truth and the independence of our Canadian justice system back in its proper place, and not only has she unflinchingly done all of this to be true to Canadians, but, wow, she's also a family doc. None of the things I will ever do will touch as many lives as her work as a highly effective Federal Cabinet Minister, and particularly now with her clarion call for the defense of our Canadian democracy. But the way she's done it is what family medicine is all about. Looking beyond the distractions, listening closely, analyzing the situation, figuring out the essential pieces of a story, linking it to the big picture, and, hearing the needs of the patient, proposing a path forward that meets their needs and delivers on helping the...

#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...

#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...

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