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View from the groundReflections of a newly qualified GP during a pandemic
View from the ground, by Dr Sarah Merrifield
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View from the ground
Accepting and appreciating the applause
View from the ground, by Dr Jonathan Griffiths
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View from the ground
Emotional self-preservation as an empathetic GP
View from the ground, by Dr Kathryn Hayman
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View from the ground
Medical education in the pandemic
View from the ground, by Dr Emily Tyer and Dr Safian Younas
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View from the ground
My portfolio journey
Over the past decade, I have been a salaried GP, a GP partner, and now I work as a portfolio sessional GP. This journey has not been easy, and my job continues to evolve. For some, the thought of undergoing so many changes may cause anxiety; for me, exploring the options along my path in life, but within a job I love, has kept me excited and enthusiastic about primary care.
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View from the ground
Don’t forget the midwife
If you were asked to recite a list of primary care team (PCT) members, the list might go something like this: GP, practice nurse, district nurse, health visitor, pharmacist. I cannot help but wonder how many would actually include community midwives in this group? Not many, I suspect. Hopefully after reading on, this may change and the midwife can become a more integral part of your PCT.
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View from the ground
Life as a medical parent
The dreaded call from school. My son had mentioned a bit of a tummy ache that morning, but had eaten breakfast and seemed OK, so I sent him to school and thought nothing more of it. After looking pea-green in assembly he had been sent to the nurse; by mid-morning he was vomiting and on his way home. Great impression to make as a medical parent, in his first term at a new school—my sincere apologies to the nurse in question, if she is reading this.
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View from the ground
No need to be a hero
As I write this I am lying in bed feeling awful. Awful as in ill and awful as in guilty, in equal measure. I’m feeling ill because I have gastroenteritis and guilty because it is Monday morning and I should be at work. I should be tackling the post-weekend triage list, doing my share of the home visits, and wading through the small tree’s worth of out-of-hours contacts from the weekend, but instead I am curled up under a duvet, drifting in and out of sleep.
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View from the ground
Appreciating our colleagues
I have been musing about how we can get better at retaining staff in primary care; this has largely been because I have found myself as the clinical director of my local primary care network. Now that the dust has settled around filling in various forms, signing agreements, and working out the flow of funds, we have moved on to engagement. Talking to different staff has opened my eyes to the fact that we remain very doctor-centric when we think about work stress and burnout. Even our practice managers are lucky to get a look in when we start talking about clinician burnout and its hazards. But they are just as broken and at risk as we are—and losing a good practice manager is as destabilising to a practice as losing a GP.
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View from the ground
Patient creativity
I don’t think you would disagree that life as a GP can feel pretty time-constrained, pressured, and exhausting, so to lighten the mood I thought I might share some amusing anecdotes on patient creativity.
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View from the ground
Being a portfolio GP
Next month is the 15th anniversary of the end of my general practice vocational training scheme (GPVTS). If you had asked me then what I would be doing now, the answer would have been clear—after a few years as a salaried GP, I would have become a partner. It was a no-brainer; that was what you did and anything else seemed second best.
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View from the ground
The junior doctor contract: a trainee’s perspective
The junior doctor strikes in 2016 over the new contract brought disruption to many. Like many of my colleagues I participated in what seemed like endless social media activity, protests, and letter writing. Like many, I also became disillusioned with the fight over time. The amount of energy expended seemed futile; I just wanted to be a doctor with reasonable working hours, was that so unreasonable?
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View from the ground
If the shoe were on the other foot
View from the ground, by Dr Sarah Merrifield
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View from the ground
Let’s talk co-sleeping
Tamsyn Crane When our son was born in January, there was no question about where he would spend his first night in the world, and many nights thereafter. Just like his big sister before him, he sleeps in the crook of my arm ...
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View from the ground
The joys of working in a small rural practice
Dr Chris Musgrave I had a great day at work today. I am a GP. Yes, you have read that correctly. I am one of the lucky GPs who works in a fully staffed practice. There are four GP partners and a ...
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View from the ground
Fewer strings, more resources, better outcomes
Dr Jonathan Griffiths It is good to see that the NHS Long Term Plan 1 recognises the importance of general practice and community care. Surely just the phrase, ‘We will boost out-of-hospital care’ must be music to the ears of GPs up ...
