My place of work

Early musings on clinical practice after Day #3 of work:

1.     The clinic is an efficient, busy machine.  It is 8.9 km from the house, over the Tauranga Harbour bridge and through the main downtown of Tauranga.  takes me 15-20" to drive depending on traffic. will try to ride bike when weather warms a bit.  It is a compact place, all rooms and space are used majority of each day, not much dead space.  The staff and MDs all work as one big team, even though there are smaller team divisions of MDs and RNs.  I can feel that despite the Team 1-4 delineation, we are all there to do the same job-take care of folks and do this the best we can!  

2.     Generalization so soon after arrival and starting work, but folks here are more active and fit and generally healthier than what we are used to in America.  BMI average of patients is much lower than in Spokane, and people seem to take more responsibility for their health and welfare.  Many are low intervention, not wanting meds and such, but curious to come find out what the MD thinks.

3.     I have now discovered the answer to what is wrong not only with Group Health but with America:  we have no tea breaks in our day!!  This is the most brilliant idea on so many levels and here is how it works:  our work day begins betw 8-9 am, at 10 am there is 15” in everyone’s schedule for tea break.  If you can, and we all do, we gather in the big room upstairs (lounge equivalent at GH) between 9:55-10:15 am for tea or coffee (all supplied by clinic!) and maybe a snack you brought, we visit together, laugh, tell stories, get to know each other, share recipes, stories about life, love, loss, and then return to work until noon, when we gather again for lunch.  And then again for tea at 3pm!  Talk about team building!  This is it, the answer to making it all work better.  Gets folks out of their offices, interacting with one another, you feel refreshed and ready to go back to the pts and work hard, gives one something to look forward to, more exercise as you have to walk down hall or upstairs and out of computer chair, maybe a bit of a caffeine hit depending on your choice of beverage, and then the purpose of why you are there in the first place feels even that much better!!  It gets one away from the computer and forces a break in the day which we know can get crazy fast!  And the culture expects this so everyone feels good about taking part.    I may have to petition GH for this upon my return, and encourage all to follow suit.  No doubt there are good things to be learned here.   As you can see from above photos, there are many services offered pts here, including an acute walk in clinic open from 8-6pm every day.  There is an after hours clinic in town as well where I can work as desired.  You can also see from the two lower photos, shot in my exam and office room, that it is all in one, and I mentioned that I am the one who rooms my own patients.  They may or may not have vitals done, only if I take them.  Keeping notes is a bit different as well.  The template keeps things on the short side, no verbose notes where one feels that have to cover one's a__ for fear of litigation.  There is no litigation here.  Very nice!!!  By days' end today, I was feeling more in the swing, had made a few referrals, ordered an ultrasound, some labs and taken care of 23 patients, including a pt from the acute track during a free spot in my schedule.  Even had a kind elderly pt bring me some flowers as a welcome gift!!   Day off tomorrow to catch up on life at home, looking forward to it.  

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