Skip to main content

Main menu

  • HOME
  • ONLINE FIRST
  • CURRENT ISSUE
  • ALL ISSUES
  • AUTHORS & REVIEWERS
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • RESOURCES
    • About BJGP
    • Conference
    • Advertising
    • BJGP Life
    • eLetters
    • Librarian information
    • Alerts
    • Resilience
    • Video
    • Audio
    • COVID-19 Clinical Solutions
  • RCGP
    • BJGP for RCGP members
    • BJGP Open
    • RCGP eLearning
    • InnovAIT Journal
    • Jobs and careers
    • RCGP e-Portfolio

User menu

  • Subscriptions
  • Alerts
  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
British Journal of General Practice
  • RCGP
    • BJGP for RCGP members
    • BJGP Open
    • RCGP eLearning
    • InnovAIT Journal
    • Jobs and careers
    • RCGP e-Portfolio
  • Subscriptions
  • Alerts
  • Log in
  • Follow bjgp on Twitter
  • Visit bjgp on Facebook
  • Blog
  • Listen to BJGP podcast
Advertisement
British Journal of General Practice

Advanced Search

  • HOME
  • ONLINE FIRST
  • CURRENT ISSUE
  • ALL ISSUES
  • AUTHORS & REVIEWERS
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • RESOURCES
    • About BJGP
    • Conference
    • Advertising
    • BJGP Life
    • eLetters
    • Librarian information
    • Alerts
    • Resilience
    • Video
    • Audio
    • COVID-19 Clinical Solutions
Out of Hours

RCGP Annual Conference: a reflection on reaching beyond the mask

Anujeet Panesar
British Journal of General Practice 2016; 66 (644): 151. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp16X684085
Anujeet Panesar
Keele University, Keele.
Roles: GP and Clinical Teaching Fellow
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Info
  • eLetters
  • PDF
Loading

I did not expect to find myself sat in a seminar room at the 2015 conference wiping away tears; I could tell I was not the only one.

Some say everything happens for a reason, and the session had just begun when I realised I was in the wrong room. As it happened, myself and a room full of GPs were given the privilege of listening to the real-life story of a patient journey told with such composure, courage, dignity, eloquence, and grace, despite the harrowing experience described, that I was completely humbled. The silence was pin drop as the audience was moved in a manner I am sure no one anticipated when taking their seat. On an unexpectedly warm day in Scotland, I was surprised to find I attended a conference wearing the badge of a professional-entitled ‘doctor’, to be mentally and emotionally jolted by a stranger, in a matter of minutes, to consider not only that role but also myself afresh.

It is so easy to hide behind that badge — to sit in a surgery and control your connection with the person sitting in front of you asking for help. To allow the scientist in you to overtake the humanity in you. To dissociate from the messy world of emotions and true empathy. I have been guilty of that more times than I would like to admit, but in doing so let down not only those who come to seek assistance but also myself. We limit ourselves, and thus limit our patients.

This session at the RCGP conference showed the power of transformation possible for both doctor and patient within a GP relationship built on partnership and patience. As a formerly reluctant GP I know being a GP is not for everyone. However, in my opinion one of the greatest assets of the medical undergraduate curriculum is the time spent in primary care, if only students are open to harnessing the unique value and opportunities in this. As stated by Professor Frede Olesen of Aarhus University in Denmark in his inspirational lecture: ‘… the value of the personal trusted doctor should not be forgotten in the medical community …’ and: ‘society should learn that the doctor may often be a cheap, strong drug when patients must learn to cope with disease and symptoms.’1

Primary care is the perfect setting for students to learn how to live comfortably with uncertainties. As the psychiatrist Stephen Bergman (using the pseudonym Samuel Shem) summarised in his controversial and still important book first published in 1978: ‘Connection comes first. This applies not only in medicine, but in any of your significant relationships. If you are connected, you can talk about anything, and deal with anything; if you’re not connected, you can’t talk about anything, or deal with anything. Isolation is deadly, connection heals.’ 2

Which rings true regardless of specialty, but I strongly believe general practice is an ideal environment in which to develop and hone these skills.

As a practising GP (6 years post-CCT) I am beginning to understand how students may be supported in primary care, where opportunities abound to learn about such nuances, in the earliest stages of their medical career. The one piece of advice I would give is: please immerse yourselves in opportunities for learning in a primary care setting in order to enlighten yourselves.

If you learn to build relationships with patients, not to hide behind the mask of science, and to cherish your humanity even in the most discomfiting of moments, you and your future patients will most certainly benefit in ways you could not have envisaged.

  • © British Journal of General Practice 2016

REFERENCES

  1. 1.↵
    1. GP Online
    Time to recognise the healing power of the doctor-patient relationship, http://www.gponline.com/time-recognise-healing-power-doctor-patient-relationship/article/1366816 (accessed 29 Jan 2016).
  2. 2.↵
    1. Shem S
    (1998) The house of God (Black Swan (imprint, new edition), London).
Back to top
Previous ArticleNext Article

In this issue

British Journal of General Practice: 66 (644)
British Journal of General Practice
Vol. 66, Issue 644
March 2016
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Or,
sign in or create an account with your email address
Email Article

Thank you for recommending British Journal of General Practice.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person to whom you are recommending the page knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
RCGP Annual Conference: a reflection on reaching beyond the mask
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from British Journal of General Practice
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from British Journal of General Practice.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
RCGP Annual Conference: a reflection on reaching beyond the mask
Anujeet Panesar
British Journal of General Practice 2016; 66 (644): 151. DOI: 10.3399/bjgp16X684085

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero

Share
RCGP Annual Conference: a reflection on reaching beyond the mask
Anujeet Panesar
British Journal of General Practice 2016; 66 (644): 151. DOI: 10.3399/bjgp16X684085
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One
  • Mendeley logo Mendeley

Jump to section

  • Top
  • Article
    • REFERENCES
  • Info
  • eLetters
  • PDF

More in this TOC Section

  • Every home should have one: the critical role of the research librarian
  • Fakery and science
  • Viewpoint: Redundant subjectivity?
Show more Out of Hours

Related Articles

Cited By...

Advertisement

BJGP Life

BJGP Open

 

@BJGPjournal's Likes on Twitter

 
 

British Journal of General Practice

NAVIGATE

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • All Issues
  • Online First
  • Authors & reviewers

RCGP

  • BJGP for RCGP members
  • BJGP Open
  • RCGP eLearning
  • InnovAiT Journal
  • Jobs and careers
  • RCGP e-Portfolio

MY ACCOUNT

  • RCGP members' login
  • Subscriber login
  • Activate subscription
  • Terms and conditions

NEWS AND UPDATES

  • About BJGP
  • Alerts
  • RSS feeds
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

AUTHORS & REVIEWERS

  • Submit an article
  • Writing for BJGP: research
  • Writing for BJGP: other sections
  • BJGP editorial process & policies
  • BJGP ethical guidelines
  • Peer review for BJGP

CUSTOMER SERVICES

  • Advertising
  • Contact subscription agent
  • Copyright
  • Librarian information

CONTRIBUTE

  • BJGP Life
  • eLetters
  • Feedback

CONTACT US

BJGP Journal Office
RCGP
30 Euston Square
London NW1 2FB
Tel: +44 (0)20 3188 7679
Email: journal@rcgp.org.uk

British Journal of General Practice is an editorially-independent publication of the Royal College of General Practitioners
© 2021 British Journal of General Practice

Print ISSN: 0960-1643
Online ISSN: 1478-5242