Please take a seat

Doctors can be roughly divided into those who sit and those who stand.  Doctors Who Sit – GPs, anaesthetists, radiologists, etc – often tend to be more laid back than their perpendicular counterparts – surgeons, physicians, etc.  Perhaps this has something to do with the traditional type A personalities of Standers, with their drive to high achievement.  Or perhaps it’s simply the fact that the Sitters’ feet don’t hurt and they are always within easy reach of a cup of coffee.  General Practice is the Promised Land of Doctors Who Sit and is quite a separate type of medicine.  It’s often less about the medicine and more about the people.  The majority of patients who present to their general practitioner are after simple reassurance and not medical treatment, so getting the consultation right is important.

This is not always easy and our natural tendency to make judgements about people on a subconscious level can sometimes blind us to a problem in, say, a respectable octogenarian that we would easily have picked up on in a delinquent 26 year old.

It might not be all about wading through blood and running down the corridor shouting “stat”, but GP certainly teaches you a lot about people and not least yourself.