Dr Sunita Nair

I am Dr Sunita, final year PG in family medicine at the prestigious St John's Medical college Bangalore. After my MBBS, I worked as a Medical Officer serving my bond in Goa under the Directorate Health Services. While I was at my PHC, new out of internship, new to handling a PHC (Primary Health Centre) which provided a range of health services (from emergency, in-patient care, immunisation, outreach clinics), and having to make clinical and administrative decisions, I realised all the skills I needed to have and all the shortcomings in the training of MBBS. The art of general practice and coordinated care with good referral system is not part of our training.

I realised this job has my heart and that there is no end to all that I can do.

But it all depends on what you can do albeit independently and confidently. I struggled to find programmes for training in "general practice" and stumbled upon the word "family medicine " online that lead me to the few MD/DNB programmes in family medicine. I applied, wrote the exam, and got through. And I started my tryst with family medicine.

I sure knew the challenges I would be facing being the first batch of the MD program at St John’s Medical college. A fairly new branch yet under explored and under recognised by majority of the medical fraternity let alone the general public. But what I did not know is I would be fighting a stereotype - An image. An image of a general practitioner that exists amongst everybody. Trust me - Everybody. They all have a fixed idea of what you should know, should do and most importantly should not do. And it's up to us to do more, know more, train well and break that thought and stereotype.

Since we were the first batch amidst the pandemic, I never had a senior to approach on how to go about a new posting or during the moments when I felt lost. So, this is a small piece of my heart which I wanted to share with you folks as I go through figuring out my own journey in this beautiful field of unending opportunities, skills, knowledge, and now you will too.

Just be assured, this is the only field that gives you a balance of life, of being in touch with your patients across ages, across birth and death, of practicing surgical and clinical medicine. Trust me there is no limit to a life that is fulfilling and satisfying as that of a general practitioner.

BUT.

It all starts and perhaps end with the skills you master and the knowledge you gain along. Of course it's a daily process but by the end of post-graduation, you will be confident about the must-knows of General Practice. And in our field, most of you won't get that served on a platter or by default of being a PG as many of the programs have just started and are still to take shape. You will have to ask/fight for it.

Let these 3 years be the years you train hard and read well from day one. Here are some advice based on my experience-

1. Ask, ask, and ask for opportunities in every department you go. Either you will be given, or you would have to earn it, or get ignored. But don’t let that deter you.
2. Never feel scared or think less of yourself as you start a fresh every few months in a new department, amongst new people.
3. When in doubt always remember why you started and how you see yourself at the end of the 3 years.
4. When you enter each posting have 10 skills in your mind (you can use the MCI curriculum as a guide) you know/do before you leave and you must chart out your posting/days accordingly.
5. Keep a book for every posting to note about what you want to learn and have learnt so that you can go back to it at the end of the day.
6. Read daily so that you can ask doubts and seek answers from the specialists while your posted with them.
7. Make friends as you work and learn in their departments.
8. Roughly at the end of being a PG, you must be thorough about management of common emergencies, resuscitation, OPD management of common infectious and non- communicable diseases, screening and prevention at all levels, red flags and approach to symptomatology, master common office surgical procedures, pharmacology of the drugs you will be using commonly, and create your own drug list.
9. At the same time find time to unwind and re-charge. Because unlike other branches you will be facing a new scenario all through the 3 years. Your day will never be repetitive and I know it can get overwhelming. But persevere.

How good you will be, will only depend on the skills you master, the knowledge you gain. Let's be the best doctors of family medicine and bring back the trust and popularity of our branch so our juniors will have more confidence to choose family medicine, and have more well-structured programs that are open up to meet their demands. Let’s be so good that the public will trust and choose us. Have policies for integration and implementation of family medicine. That's how we'll grow and create a niche for ourselves in the medical fraternity in India.

All the best friends, trust me this field is the best and there is so much to explore and achieve!

Regards,

Dr Sunita Nair

PS: the seniors at AFPI, your faculty, and residents across the state are always there for you to reach out to, but the days are for you to seize :)