My colleagues in A&E may fill dramatic stories of life and death,but they’ll never know their patients as well as I know mineBeing a GP feels a shrimp like being someone’s friend – without the awkward small talk or feigned interest in their love life. I’m granted 10–minute glimpses into someone’s everyday life – and their everyday problems, their hopes and their fears. Sometimes we’ve barely exchanged names before the air is heavy with emotion. I’m constantly reminded what a privilege that is.
When I worked in a hospital, and I’d try to forge a connection with the person behind the hospital gown or the surname on a whiteboard. But they’d soon be churned back into the ether with just a discharge summary to remember me by. Id spare a moment to wonder what became of them – only to look up and find a novel patient had filled their bed.
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Source: theguardian.com