Fortunately, I have been privileged enough to get some valuable work experience in a GP Surgery! I'd arranged to spend a few days in the school holidays shadowing a GP both in clinic and on visits. I had to agree to confidentiality, something which I'm used to in my work with Mencap. We also had to ask patients' permission for me to sit in on their appointments and many of them were happy to have me there, with quite a few of them telling me about their condition and how it affects their day to day life. During my time there, I saw many cases of COPD, Heart Disease, Eczema, colds and Depression, some of which are discussed below:
On the Monday I arrived at the surgery and immediately began shadowing Dr Harrison, who handed me a copy of the "GP Handbook", so I could look up conditions as we saw them. I saw lots of different conditions, ranging from Depression to sports injuries. One patient we saw came in complaining of an aching elbow. He had a history of tendonitis in his elbow, due to weight lifting. It had been recommended that he stop weight training to prevent further damage, but he'd continued. This caused a repetitive strain injury with inflammation around the elbow called medial epicondylitis, also known as "Golfer's Elbow". It was strongly advised that he give up weight lifting for a time to prevent even further damage.
There was one patient who really stood out as a particularly interesting one to me however. We also saw this patient on the Monday and perhaps what first drew my attention to her was the fact she had epilepsy - a condition I'm very used to. It had been caused by a head trauma in childhood, however this was not why she was here. She agreed to have me in the room and her partner spoke to Dr Harrison.
The patient, Mrs Kite, had been suffering from Depression on and off throughout her life, the most recent case being after an incident that occurred at her work where she was attacked and had since been off work. Her partner said she was having trouble motivating herself to do basic tasks, such as get out of bed, prepare food and even eat. She seemed to spend most of her time in bed, simply not doing anything. Mrs Kite said she simply did not feel motivated enough to get up each morning or to look after herself. She was extremely skinny and had suffered severe weight loss recently and had developed a tremor, especially on her left side. This was exaggerated when she elevated her arm or tried to pick objects up. Mrs Kite's partner had also noticed what seemed to be a slight loss of memory, although the patient didn't agree. The patient was prescribed a further course of anti-depressants, which she was recommended to take and see how she felt. It was agreed the patient would then be reviewed in the next few weeks again. However, before the next appointment Mrs Kite was hospitalised due to a sudden deterioration and it was suspected that Mrs Kite had Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease - known commonly as "Mad Cow Disease" - a fatal condition that's very rare in humans and causes damage to the brain, which can lead to Depression & anxiety disorders, tremors and an inability to speak or look after one's self.
As well as neurological disorders and illnesses, patients came in with infections. One patient had had a C-section to deliver a baby a few weeks before and also has Diabetes and suffered from obesity. Where the stitch in body folds was, an infection and rash had occurred: Intertrigo. A topical antifungal was prescribed by Dr Harrison and all seemed fairly straight forward, if a good example of some of the not-so-appealing parts of medicine!
I accompanied the doctor on visits, one of which was to an old people's home. The patient was in a very vulnerable state and could not talk, move or fulfil basic personal needs such as eating without support. It was known the patient was going to die soon - she was very old and very frail - but as the GP, Dr Harrison had to visit her every 2 weeks, so that if she died, there would be no coroner's report. This gave me a brief insight and opened my eyes to the legalities doctors face.
While shadowing Dr Harrison, I saw some very interesting cases and learnt a lot! As it was my first actual experience in a medical workplace, I wanted to make sure I really wanted to do this for the rest of my life... and I really enjoyed it! Dr Harrison said one of the highlights of being a GP was that you look after the same patients for years - in some cases even 3 generations of the same family! You get to see them grow, something which is tremendously rewarding!
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