Dr. A. Newman

Name: Dr. A. Newman

Career stage: Consultant

Location: Melbourne

Position:

Medical Specialty: General Practice

What do you enjoy most about general practice?

Several things:

1. Seeing someone's illness in the context of the whole person
2. Seeing the person when ill, when well, when struggling with problems and when life goes smoothly. Observing the way that health issues are affected by the person's entire environment.
3. Because you see a variety of different conditions it is always challenging. You never know what will walk through the door.
4. General practice gives you expertise where you can work in different places. I have worked in East Timor in a rural hospital. I have tutored students in McMaster University, Canada.
5. There is the opportunity to subspecialise.
6. It is possible to be a top class GP and work part time.

What are the challenges of general practice?

Spending all your working day in one on one consultations is tiring.This is not well remunerated. The challenge is to provide comprehensive care and earn a high income.

There is a risk in being professionally isolated.

What are some of the things that helped you follow your training program?

I followed my husband. I fell into general practice because I followed my husband overseas and worked as a general practitioner in the Australian Air Force (RAAF) in Malaysia.I studied for the RACGP in Malaysia. Thirty years ago there was no GP training program.

I also followed him to Canada and took the opportunity to do a course in evidence based medicine more than twenty years ago. I continue to undertake professional development courses that enable me to become an expert in the area of menopausal medicine.

Do you have any advice for young aspiring GP's?

Patients are always interesting but put some thought into your work environment.

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