careernav.

General Description

This is an ideal career for analytical and logical thinkers. As a general practitioners, you assess and treat a wide range of conditions, ailments, and injuries, from sinus and respiratory infections to broken bones and scrapes; you refer more serious conditions to specialists for more intensive care. Specialist physicians broadly work in anaesthesiology, family and general medicine, general internal medicine, general paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, psychiatry and surgery.

Career Advice - Doctor/General Practitioner Career

Anaesthesiologists focus on the care of surgical patients and their pain relief, conferring with other physicians and surgeons before, during, and after operations. You are responsible for maintenance of the patient’s vital life functions such as heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure and breathing, through continual monitoring and assessment during surgery.

General internists focus on nonsurgical treatment for diseases and injuries of internal organ systems such as the heart, stomach, kidneys, liver and digestive tract. You use medication and are usually called upon as primary care specialist, having patients referred to you by other specialists.

Paediatricians provide care from birth to early adulthood across the health of infants, children, and teenagers. You specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of a variety of ailments specific to young people and track your patients’ growth to adulthood. You treat day-to-day illnesses common to children, minor injuries, infectious diseases, and perform and monitor immunizations. Some paediatricians specialize further in serious medical conditions, paediatric surgery, treating autoimmune disorders or serious chronic ailments.

Obstetricians and gynaecologists are specialists who focus on women’s health with responsibility for general medical care for women and care related to pregnancy and the reproductive systems. You can specialise in breast and cervical cancer, urinary tract and pelvic disorders, hormonal disorders, or childbirth, counselling women throughout their pregnancy.

Psychiatrists focus on mental health, assessing & treating mental illnesses through a combination of psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, hospitalization and medication. Psychotherapy involves regular discussions with patients about their problems; you help them find solutions through changes in their behavioural patterns, the exploration of their past experiences, and group and family therapy sessions. Psychoanalysis involves long-term psychotherapy and counselling for patients.

Surgeons are physicians who specialize in the treatment of injury, disease, and deformity through operations. Using a variety of instruments with patients under general or local anaesthesia, you correct physical deformities, repairs bone and tissue after injuries, or perform preventive surgeries on patients with debilitating diseases or disorders. You may perform general surgery but most surgeons specialize; for example, in orthopaedic surgery (the treatment of the skeletal system), neurological surgery (the treatment of the brain and nervous system), ophthalmology (the treatment of the eye), otolaryngology (treatment of the ear, nose, and throat) and plastic or reconstructive surgery (reshaping the body after trauma or illness).

Other medical areas in which you may specialize include allergist (allergies), cardiologist (heart), dermatologist (skin), gastroenterologist (stomach and bowels), pathologist (blood), or radiologist (X-rays and imaging).

What you do every day

Your day is dependent on the branch of medicine in which you practice. There are days for surgery and hospital rounds and days for patient consultation. They all start early and finish late. Irrespective, your career commences as a resident working in the major hospitals.

Residency is tough, hard work with long days commencing at 6.30am in the operating room and finishing once the surgeons’ patient list is completed. Your day usually ends around 6pm but once every four nights you may finish at 8am, a 26 hour shift.

Patients trust you and you need to be there for them. Medical training is exhausting, and rewarding both financially and in terms of personal satisfaction. Many physicians and surgeons work long, irregular hours; almost one-third of physicians work 60 or more hours a week.

Personality that best fits this occupation

You must have a desire to serve patients, compassion towards others, be self-motivated, and be able to survive the pressures and long hours of medical education and practice. You also must have a good bedside manner, excellent communication skills, emotional stability and the self confidence to make decisions in emergencies. Ongoing study throughout your career is necessary to keep up with medical advances so you must have a high degree of motivation and self discipline.

Employment opportunities will continue to expand due to a growing and ageing population which will inevitably increase demand for physician services.

Best thing about this career

You can make a huge difference to your patients' lives and to the communities you serve. You are challenged every day as people are different and medical technology constantly changes. The financial rewards can be substantial, so you can afford an affluent lifestyle, but in the end the status, respect and trust afforded to you is the greatest reward.

Worst thing about this career

The downsides of a medical career are: the long time it takes to finally become qualified, knowing that despite what you do people will die anyway, the long hours, and the difficulty in maintaining a work-life balance. There is a growing culture of litigation across the medical industry which has made medical indemnity a topical issue in some specialisations.