VICDOC Summer 2023 - Magazine - Page 96
B EYO N D T H E ST E T H OSCO P E
On Monday 20 November, on stage
at the Lyceum Club in Melbourne, sat
a panel comprising: A/Prof Kate Stern,
gynaecologist and fertility specialist;
Dr Jasmina Kevric, Breast ANZ Fellow,
Dr Cecilia Xiao, GP Fellow, Adj Prof
Karen Price accomplished GP and
immediate past president RACGP; and
Ms Sue Jackel, AMA Victoria Workplace
Relations consultant. It was moderated by
Dr Linda Schachter, respiratory and sleep
physician and myself, a paediatrician.
We also celebrated achievements in
medicine, A/Prof Magdalena Simonis
AM and Dr Desiree Yap AM receiving
prestigious AMA awards as well as
Dr John Gorman, as they were presented
by special guest AMA Federal President
Professor Steve Robson, as well as
Dr Kate Duncan, renowned obstetrician,
and advocate for women.
The room was full, with over 100
guests, including medical students,
interns, doctors in training and specialists
and the concept of time was discussed.
When is the right time to have a family?
How do you make time to fit in work and
life? How do you make time to make it
all work? How do you balance the time
commitments involved in juggling work,
family, and your career?
The conversations began as the panel
shared their own stories of the joys and
struggles of being a doctor and having
a family. Around the room, a sense of
togetherness, understanding, appreciation,
wafted through as we listened to the
stories, humble, down to earth, and
personal. It is through sharing, our time;
the corridor conversations we have when
things are difficult, carrying a child while
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AMA VI C TO RIA
shielding them from the black and white
photographs of chest x rays as we run
to the bathroom to avoid them being
exposed, experiencing the challenge of
disruption as we are forced to upheave
our lives to different rotations, in order
to complete training, that we can grow.
By listening, by sharing, by moving
forward together and discussing the
options we have, for time.
In medicine, we are taught to make
plans for our patients. Take a history,
do an examination, write down the
differentials and come up with a plan.
As we pull the car into the driveway, the
wheels, stop, exhausted from the day and
we turn off the wipers, the rain, leaving
faint drops of water spattered on the
windscreen, as nightfall creeps in, the
moonlight shining brightly above, as if
reminding us that there is still time.
Next to us, on the bare passenger seat,
is the blue stethoscope we had placed,
nestled amongst the keys, the hospital
badge and the mostly empty lunch box,
a reminder, of the heart beats we had
listened to earlier that day, “lub dub, lub
dub”. Right now, in the darkness, the
only heartbeat that can be heard, is the
one inside us, beating, ever so gently,
“lub dub, lub dub”.
Take a moment to breathe, and listen
to your heart, beating, through the chaos
of medicine, and create a plan, a life, for
yourself, that is, beyond the stethoscope.
A plan for self-care, a check-up if needed,
at your GP, a plan to catch up with friends
or family, or exercise after work, a plan to
have a baby.
Time is always ticking.
Listen to your heart.
