The Next Gen Advocacy is one of the toughest gigs in medicine – it’s essential but resilience is required. Mandurah GP Dr Alison Soerensen has had to learn quickly.
Jan Hallam reports
Just a few short weeks after the birth of her third baby last year, Mandurah GP Dr Alison Soerensen had her game-face on. Sitting at her desk at Murray Medical Centre, she had a young mother in front of her, fretting about how she, Alison, could be newly showered, neatly dressed, hair done and have coffee in hand, while she, patient, had struggled to get her baby ready and get out of her pyjamas in time for her appointment. “I’ll tell you what I told her – ‘you didn’t see me 30 minutes ago’. I can sit here calmly because I know my children are safe at home and they are not my sole responsibility at this moment. I only have clean clothes on because I stepped into them several minutes before I walked out the door,” she told Medical Forum. “I was glad my patient felt able to open up to me. I don't want you or her to think that I've got it all together because I don't. Nobody does. It's not good for anyone’s mental health to think like that. “This is why working in general practice is a privilege. I see people walk in the door at their most vulnerable but, in this safe space, they can be themselves, without fear of judgement. When they walk back out again, I hope they feel 18 | MARCH 2020
empowered and a somewhat better than when they arrived.” It also starts a conversation about her own insecurities as a busy GP and a young mother of two girls aged six and three and an eightmonth baby boy, and the need for her to have a GP and a safe space where she can be a patient. “I do have a GP but she is approaching retirement, so I am considering alternatives, but it is not as easy as it sounds. Some GPs feel uncomfortable being a doctor to another doctor. You want to be able to be a patient inside the consulting room, even if outside you are friends or colleagues,” she said. However, the importance of a doctor having a doctor of their own is without question. “We know that doctors often present with medical problems quite late because they have ignored their symptoms or have been too busy or frightened to seek medical attention. Other times they may come in quite early because they fear the horrible things their symptoms might indicate. “Then there’s the embarrassment of either of those scenarios playing out in front of a peer. There's a whole mental health side of things that’s important for us to be aware of as well – doctors being vulnerable but not necessarily wanting to admit that vulnerability. MEDICAL FORUM | PAIN MANAGEMENT ISSUE
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