Name: Dr Mark Ralfe, AMA South Australia
What drew you to medicine?
Initially, the academic challenge of integrating science and biological problems. Very biomedical! I quickly found that helping people feel less scared, giving them a sense of hope and enjoying life again has become a large motivation.
What is your favourite and least favourite part of general practice?
As a sports/exercise medicine-specific interest GP, getting people moving again is great. Using point-of-care ultrasound and modern injectable therapies has had a significant effect on my practice, particularly on older patients, helping them avoid big operations and getting them off opioids. My least favourite is the constant battle to get all the relevant information in one place at the same time. Adelaide has around six imaging providers and four blood labs, and by the time patients see me, they've often quite rightly confused about where and when all the previous tests were had. Headache! This may well turn into a migraine with the threatened increase in fragmentation of care.
What is your top advocacy priority and why?
The top issue is to get enough primary care research done to generate evidence-based policies that make our lives easier as GPs and safer for patients. I think this is advocating about a way to have an advocacy priority.
What do you think is the biggest challenge for GPs at the moment?
Bearing in mind that everyone is different (hence the need for research to pick up big themes), a massive challenge is providing adequate remuneration for the time, effort, and care needed for good patient outcomes. Supporting country GPs, systems encouraging seamless information sharing, and getting more general practice teaching into universities are also priorities. Having a regular GP who's happy, enjoys the work and gets home on time would seem like a good idea for both the patient and their GP.
