A personal dimension of doctors’ lives come under the microscope
They throw up some interesting answers. Medical drama ‘House’ has the slight edge when it comes to the TV doctors real doctors like to watch, while ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ doesn’t get so much as a mention. Asked what career they would have liked had they not chosen medicine, the answers are as diverse as the collection of specialties (sic) this cohort of doctors represent.And if they were Minister for Health? Only one respondent to this pop quiz can tell it like it really is...
LEO VARADKAR
To keep a diary or journal. Life and work is extremely busy and sometimes you don’t remember things as they actually happened. I’d like to be able to read back over the past and find out what I was thinking and how I was feeling at the time.
Of course, to do my best in the Department of Health, and to make progress in at least a few of the ongoing areas in the health service experiencing difficulties.
Set aside a bit of time for yourself every day. It could be exercise, it could be meeting friends, it could be a hobby. We all need time to clear our heads.
For the workplace? Move the Department of Health out of Hawkins House.
For the broader health service? Make the health service a place people are proud to work in again.
Make the first step towards universal health care by providing GP care without fees to the oldest and youngest in society.
Plenty of water, vitamin C, and a cold swim.
Scrubs and Zach Braff. ‘Cos it’s funny.
Ireland winning the Six Nations.
Maybe do an MBA and go into business or work for an NGO. I have never lived overseas properly. I would like to do that.
I spent some time a few years ago as a volunteer in Mongolia. If politics doesn’t work out, I’d love to do an Overseas Aid work placement for a year a so.
That way I can give something back and take some time to think of the future.
I think the most positive has been the extension of screening: Breast, colorectal, diabetic retinopathy and newborn hearing. It will make a huge difference for our health in the longer term and proves that governments don’t just think about the next election.
Dr SIOBHÁN BARRY
To live life at a slightly less frenetic pace. Since the economic downturn, the numbers of referrals to our service has exponentially increased while the number of functioning personnel has reduced. We aim to operate a community mental health service without a waiting list and this has become progressively more difficult to deliver. Coming to terms with the fact that my inbox is never empty is also an on going challenge.
I hope that people can become more appreciative of small things and count their blessings rather than what they have not. A better sense of nature and of community would also have a calming effect.
Not to start smoking and to cut down if they do. The physical problems of the patients I see are considerable — secondary to smoking, sedentary lifestyles, and perhaps an over-reliance on medication rather than looking at active engagement in recovery.
It would be to have a seven-day day hospital to enable people to stay in their own homes and communities while availing of support and interventions when they experience difficult periods of life.
To beef up community services [day hospitals, clinics, OTs, SWs, and psychologists] for those with enduring health conditions — this gets little political interest — all the focus being on emergency departments and the unexpected events that happen. It would make such a difference to such a large number of people with considerable bang for the buck invested.
A new year’s resolution of abstinence!
Doc Martin. It is medically authentic and very funny.
Undoubtedly, the announcement of €35m development money for mental health services to enable developments recommended in A Vision for Change. Come to think of it, it was also the best medical moment in 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2006. Deja vu?
An archaeologist or a historian.
Most positive was the publication of A Vision for Change, the national mental health policy in early 2006. Unfortunately, to date the implementation of this has been very slow but it is hopefully at step 40 of a 4,000-step journey nearly 8 years on of a 10-year plan.
Most retrograde was to exempt mental health facilities from the smoking ban — a very stigmatising and retrograde decision dressed up as humane and a big contributor to early mortality in those with enduring mental illness.
Dr DAVID MULLANE
I will try to remember to empty the dishwasher.
That my family will remain fit and healthy.
That healthy eating, exercise, and absence of exposure to tobacco smoke would become part of every child’s daily life.
Replace the outdated children’s unit at CUH with a new facility.
Address suboptimal nursing and allied health staffing levels in acute hospitals.
I’ll be on call on New Year’s Eve so will be one of the few who does not have to deal with this next-day problem.
I don’t really watch medical dramas. I see enough of it at work. House could be useful though for those rare challenging cases!
Climbing the Reeks ridge and Carrauntoohil with a group from the hospital.
I could have been happy as a farmer.
Most positive: Smoking ban. Most retrograde: Recruitment embargo.
Dr DERMOT McCAFFREY
Watch less dodgy TV.
That my son and daughter achieve what they hope for in their Inter and Leaving cert exams.
Walk more and stress less. Stress results in eating and negative life choices. We are only here for a short time and people need to enjoy themselves if possible.
Better communication between staff at all levels.
I would address the nation and tell them the reality of our healthcare system and that their expectations can not necessarily be met — without someone else doing without — we must all share in the limited resource that is healthcare.
About two litres of ice cold, lemon-sliced flavoured water, and then rashers!
Scrubs. And Turk was my favourite actor as he always seemed to love what he was doing and he loved Carla!
World medical response to the ebola virus outbreak.
A writer, most probably of kids fiction.
The most positive medical advance I have seen is in the treatment of patients with HIV/Aids. From a terminal illness of previously healthy men in their youth when I was a student in 1982 to a chronic/ curable disease in 2014 is impressive.
The most concerning development is the ‘pathologisation’ of the normal ageing process where to age is ‘unhealthy’ and needs to be treated with drugs.
Ms JULLIETTE BUCKLEY
Hmmm. The same ones I make every year. Eat less chocolate, drink less coffee, exercise more, all usually broken before January 2.
My personal hopes are almost all for my three little boys, that they will continue to be healthy and happy, that they will continue to be great little buddies, that we won’t have too many trips to the emergency room with sports injuries, that my eldest will like ‘big’ school in September, and that maybe at some point in 2015 I will get a full night’s sleep.
Lose weight. A lot of people have no idea what a normal body mass index or normal body weight should be. They don’t realise the myriad of health-related complications that are associated with obesity, such as type II diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, or the specific problems obese patients can have after an operation such as an increased risk of wound infections, blood clots, and chest infections.
Introduce scrubs as a ‘uniform’ for doctors. Dress codes have changed significantly over the last few years in an effort to minimise healthcare-associated infections, with the abolition of white coats, a ‘no tie’ policy for men and ‘bare-below-the-elbows’ policy in many hospitals.
Scrubs are commonly worn in hospitals throughout the US, and would adhere to the changing dress code policies in many institutions.
I’m going to say address the problem with recruitment of doctors of all grades, from consultants to interns. The health service cannot run without doctors, and there has been a huge brain drain over the last number of years with little appetite for those that leave to come back, resulting in a large number of vacant posts across all grades.
Abstinence! With three kids who don’t sleep past 6am, and often visit at least once during the night it’s just not worth it.
I absolutely loved ER and a large poster of Dr Doug Ross (played by George Clooney) had pride of place in our student apartment for many years.
As a doctor, it was when a particular patient defied the odds and got better, as a patient it was the epidural I got when having my baby!
I never wanted to be anything else so couldn’t imagine what else I would like to do, but it would have been something scientific, perhaps an anatomist.
The nationwide delivery of breast cancer screening with BreastCheck and the development and implementation of the National Cancer Control programme, focused on delivering excellence in cancer care have probably been the biggest positive changes that we have seen since I graduated in 2002.
Dr JOHN SHEEHAN
GP, Blackpool, Cork city.
To run a marathon in 2015, and to improve my work/ life balance.
That there would be a solution to the homeless and housing crisis.
Give up smoking. It makes such a difference to someone’s health.
To reduce the waiting lists for patients who need urgent consultations or surgeries. Many of my patients are waiting a year or more for hip replacement surgeries.
A universal primary care system.
Prevention is better than cure. Plenty of water, fresh air, and exercise.
Dr Who. He lives life on the edge all the time.
The opening of our new purpose-built GP surgery in Blackpool, Co Cork.
A marine engineer. I was attracted to the idea of travel and adventure after watching too many World War Two films on a Sunday afternoon as a kid.
Most positive: More community mental health teams. The home-based crisis teams allow patients to be treated in their own home and have helped de-stigmatise mental illness.
Most negative: The loss of so many newly qualified doctors to other countries.
Prof RICHARD GREENE
Believe the glass is always half full; remain persistent and patient.
That I and my fellow citizens start to respect Ireland, the state, ourselves; then we can decide the type of society we yearn, where all are cherished and demand our government enact policies to achieve that society. I hope 2015 will see a movement towards collective interest rather than the self-interest of recent times.
Be an activist in their own health and healthcare.
That every member of staff feels truly valued for their hard work and commitment, ensuring they feel included, respected and empowered to provide the best service we can collectively for our patients.
I would stop the ‘simple, ineffective’ crisis responses and look to the future. I would develop a ‘Commission for Health’ involving all sectors of society, especially patients; with a vision to remove health from being a political football for multiple vested interests; decide the type of healthcare system we as citizens want at a price we can afford and how we will fund it — one year to a detailed plan to full implementation in 2025.
Sobriety.
House — his reliance on deductive reasoning and psychology, even where it might not seem obviously applicable brings to mind a Sherlock Holmes approach to medical diagnosis.
The honest acceptance communicated by the minister that the health service budget does not allow for a ‘worldclass’ health system for all — a public realisation of what we all know — this truth can form the foundation from which we build.
A professional sailor.
The most positive development has been the multidisciplinary approach to healthcare with evolving patient partnership.
The most retrograde development has been the industrialisation of treating disease to prolong life at the expense of improving health and the quality of life.
