In my fourth year of medicine, I had GP as my third rotation, from June to August. The schedule worked as follows: Monday / Wednesday, we had teaching at the Alfred Hospital, while on Tuesday and Thursday, I had placement at two GP practices. One was a bulk-billing GP clinic where I spend 6 hours, and the other was a mixed billing practice where I spent 7 hours.

GP teaching days were a great opportunity to see a big cohort of my peers – around 80 of us congregated twice-weekly – which made me reminisce the pre-clinical days at Monash University Clayton. Both tutors were excellent – I had two tutors, one on Monday and one on Wednesday – but especially my Wednesday one, who entertained us with his stories of patients, his encouraging teaching style and lovely personality. We covered each major topic at each teaching day – briefly, and discussing the salient points.

GP placement days were diverse across the two locations. One location served primarily older patients, who had been longstanding patients for the past twenty years. All the patients said that the doctor was excellent, and it seemed like they had built excellent rapport. The majority of presentations were chronic conditions – like heart failure or COPD.

At my other site, the doctor was a much newer doctor, and because of the bulk billing nature, a lot of presentations were common colds that probably didn’t require extensive medical intervention. MSK concerns were also common, such as painful back or shoulders, or twisted knee.

Overall, it was a very interesting experience to see what it might be like to work in a GP practice – across diverse perspectives. The GPs themselves were lovely, and although I haven’t considered becoming a GP in the future, I can see the benefits of a flexible lifestyle.