Week of the Toe

Friday at last. An extra bonus this week, with a bank holiday - meaning a 3-day weekend. Here in the UK we have only 8 bank holidays, easily the lowest in Europe. France has 10, Germany 12 and Slovenia a whopping 17. In actual fact, although that sounds a lot more, the bank holidays across Europe are fixed dates, regardless of whether they fall on a weekend or not. Therefore, I'm told, on average, the number of weekdays off is the same. Still, wouldn't mind a few more!

My first week back in General Practice and already I've seen an unusually high amount of toes! 5 patients have come in this week with issues about their toes. One had a persistantly swollen little toe, another had nail damage and one just didn't like the shape and wanted to discuss surgical options to correct it. Admittedly it was an ugly toe, but still - to consider surgery is pretty drastic.

These patients along with others prove how mundane GP-life can be. Three of the five toe patients came simply because they could. They clearly had nothing better to do - there wasn't a problem with their toe that I could help with and they all got the same advice. As part of the consultation process I'm supposed to enquire what the patient expected or hoped for from me. Each time the patient just wanted to check if the toe was ok and to do so needed confirmation from a doctor. When I confirmed that the toe was fine, they felt reassured and left.

Often in these consultations, it's simply an exercise in reassuarance. I'm here to just confim the patients thoughts. The patient has already formed an opinion, a reason for their symptoms/problems and just want to double-check with the doctor. If I confirm their ideas they go home happy, if I disagree, we discuss the alternatives and come up with a plan - working in partnership.

To the reader this may seem pretty straightforward, but I guess, when I try to look at this positively (difficult on a Friday), I possess the skill and knowledge to identify when the thoughts are wrong and also provide alternatives and options in dealing with different problems. My skill is as a diagnostician.

Everything else I do, could technically be done by someone else. Nurses are able to do blood tests and other investigations. Other healthcare professionals are able to prescribe certain medication, are able to examine certain patients. Only the doctor is able to diagnose the problem and then attempt to come up with a solution where possible.

So, after 4 years of hard labour, I finally stumble across my role. I diagnose problems and hopefully provide solutions. I guess it's a shame that doesn't endear me to my work as much as it should. As positive as I have made it all sound, when I put it into practice - diagnosing what's wrong with a patients toe is not exactly the most exciting thing in the world.

Apologies for how slowly this blog is developing, I'm just trying to get back into the typing groove and right now my thoughts are pretty boring. Thanks for persisting and hopefully things will start picking up soon. If not, I'll rope in the guest bloggers early, or type something about Bollywood - that seems to attract all the hits.

Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?