Most GPs I know pride themselves on being true generalists, and have gravitated towards this area of medicine because they enjoy the challenge and variety that comes with the territory. They also tend to value holistic, patient-centered care and the satisfaction that comes with long term doctor-patient relationships.  

Inevitalby, though, each GP has strengths and weaknesses when it comes to their clinical expertise. For me personally, I’m very confident with women’s health, pretty good with infants and neonates, comfortable with suturing and minor procedures, but much less assured when it comes to men’s reproductive health, elderly patients with complex mutli-comorbiditiy, and skin cancer checks, for example. 

I’m not overly concerned by this, and nor should my patients be. I feel that I’ve got enough of a grasp of the basics that I can at least make the first steps towards investigating and managing pretty much any presenting complaint, and am happy to do some…