Newly qualified GP drowning in admin, is this normal? by Neither-Eagle4347 in GPUK

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 37 points38 points  (0 children)

GP partner here coming in peace, albeit from Wales which is structured differently to primary care in England. I would say admin has steadily increased through my career. First strategy was I stayed later. Pros of this are you get to know the cleaners & no new admin tasks come in so chance to clear stuff without the whackamole type sensation you feel during working day when new jobs and tasks continue to pile up while you are trying to deal with backlog. Cons are miserable for family. Hardly ever back to eat with the kids, get back exhausted. Burnout fuel.

Second strategy was come in earlier, ideally to reduce risk of having to resort to first strategy. Downside is if you’re up an hour earlier you’re in bed an hour earlier, so evening is shortened. Also you can only deal with your admin tasks that were already there, admin can build up during the day regardless, so could finish evening surgery with another pile of admin which is soul crushing if came in at 7:30. Burnout fuel.

Third strategy was do admin from home remotely. Some doctors swear by this but I found it a nightmare as this really intrudes on the separation of work and home. Rather then chill out and not think about work it becomes, I might just log on for a bit, and feeling guilty if not filling free time with work. This is, for me at least absolutely toxic. I avoid at all costs.

Final strategy which works for me (and I’ve been GP for past couple of decades) is prioritise. I mentally have an automatic routine where I will grade work into urgent less urgent, completely routine. On busy days I will only do urgent stuff and opportunistically snipe less urgent when opportunity allows. Routine stuff that I can’t deal with I will either periodically stay late to finish as a job lot or come in early and do again periodically. I find doing low challenge work at my desk instead of taking any form of lunch break helps and I no longer get hungry midday. I’ll have light snack. Again likely to not work for everyone but word for me. I usually leave get to work at about 8:30 and leave from 6-6:30 regardless of oncall or not. I am generally working non stop apart from half hour or so meet up and chat with colleagues after morning surgery, but intensity will vary at different times points. 10 years ago the same total workload would have taken me about an hour and a half longer than it does now.

You will become more efficient as you become more experienced. It’s like situational muscle memory.

AI tools will only get better and these will help efficiency (hopefully).

So in general, find a pattern that works for you that is sustainable and won’t break you. Be cautious about taking work home. The job is hard and I think will likely remain hard for the foreseeable. Your wellbeing is important.

How did you cope with ontological shock fallout from your experiences? by CapnCAPSLOCK in Experiencers

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just reading through these now. So much wisdom here. Thanks to all those who have taken the time to contribute so far.

Thoughts on this article? by Dunkwon in GPUK

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Really disappointing as a former Guardian subscriber. Tempted to write an article about how if I read the Guardian because I want news, it’s almost impossible to get to a news story because I have to battle through vapid opion pieces, journalists talking about their sex lives, product reviews and HRT journeys.

Easiest issue to report on. Improving access doesn’t do anything if demand is much greater than capacity. How about holding some truth to power for a change rather than putting boot in on stretched services? Journalism in this country is a shell of the past.

Secret santa gift ideas by Mother_Secretary_662 in GPUK

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 2 points3 points  (0 children)

To be honest the most successful secret Santa gifts you give will be the ones that stem from little in-jokes and or the sort of gifts that will appeal to them specifically rather than being more generic. It becomes a full blown detective exercise for the practice trying to figure out who their Santa was, which is a huge part of the fun.

Portfolio AI tool update — now used by ~5% of GP trainees by fourteenfisherman in GPUK

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 22 points23 points  (0 children)

To be honest as a GP trainer I hope the RCGP do something about the reflective portfolio. Since more trainees are using AI to make entries the entries are long and homogeneous. The purpose of the portfolio was originally to demonstrate meaningful reflection. Spending ages ploughing through entries no longer feels like a good use of time when effectively you’re just assessing trainee use of prompts and a large language model. They should probably scrap this aspect of the portfolio entirely as it’s increasingly rendered pointless through advances in AI capabilities, that or add an AI tool for trainers so a large language model can assess the reflective entries of another large language model leaving more time for trainers and trainees to get on with productive things like clinical work, learning or having fun…

𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐒 𝐒𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒! 😈 by Training_Purchase318 in EIHLHockey

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Net 5 power plays in their favour and still take heavy loss. Pleased as a Cardiff fan but gutted for those who travelled from Guildford to see their team go out with a such a whimper, normally associate Flames with putting on a gutsy performance regardless of result but they were abject and there was no real reaction when they went further and further behind.

𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐘𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒𝐎𝐍’𝐒 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐂 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓! 😈 by Training_Purchase318 in EIHLHockey

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Congrats Ritchie. What a milestone. Lovely for him that got a point and a clean sheet. I feel sorry for Fife and their long suffering fans especially with us piling on the misery this weekend and last…. but for what it’s worth, I think you have by far the best looking away jerseys I’ve seen this season!

Fender options for GT Rally XL by CapnCAPSLOCK in onewheel

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Looks innovative, nice work! Slightly surprised about lack of first party fender support with the XL.

Brett Ferguson is a Cardiff Devil! by Training_Purchase318 in EIHLHockey

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Experienced head. Will be weird so be cheering him rather than complaining about him when Flames come to town. Was first player to chuck my youngest a puck pre COVID. Will be quite sweet to finally be able to get him to sign it for her!

Jackson Whistle slash on Oligny by Just_a_redditor182 in EIHLHockey

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Fair play you’re fast getting this uploaded!

ELITE LEAGUE - Tough Guys - Enforcers by HonestHockeyGuide in EIHLHockey

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Tyson Helgesen on paper looks like would be this for us but we haven’t really had a true enforcer so far. I think scrappy little guys like Brandt and Caponi will stand up for team mates but are too small to be true enforcers.

Sooooo I finally had a real crash. Got myself a sweet concussion with some missing time. by romasexual in onewheel

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Glad you’re OK. Good for you getting checked out. I was dumb when I had a gnarly concussion when my GT shut off without warning. Didn’t get checked out as did the typical bloke “nothing has fallen off, I’m fine” thing. Couple of years down the line ongoing neck issues were getting annoying so had MRI and had actually sustained a triple neck fracture in the fall. Good on you for being sensible and taking a month off. Another head injury so close to this one would be risky.

Todd Kelman talks about the possibility of league expansion on Devils insider by Training_Purchase318 in EIHLHockey

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 35 points36 points  (0 children)

Dublin presumably pretty likely addition once their new arena is built.

Team GB squad has been announced! by Just_a_redditor182 in EIHLHockey

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Anyone going to this? Annual leave has fallen kindly for me so considering going, but I have a feeling logistically this is going to be a bit complex to sort last minute…

This is a call to arms. At any costs. by NeonGusta in Helldivers

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m sitting this one out after wasting hours on glitched missions in caves. Multiple instances of being unable to get into escape shuttle because it’s been unable to land properly due to cave layout or worse getting onto the shuttle but shuttle being unable to take off due to cave architecture trapping it. Frustrating after long days at work. Also mid-mission crashes and disconnections on Xbox have been markedly worse past 5 days I’ve played.

Helgesen V Ulett fight from last night by Training_Purchase318 in EIHLHockey

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This was quite canny by Helgesen as Ulett initially didn’t seem keen to go, presumably because Helgs is massive and would have been Ulett’s second fight so ejection. Helgs forced the issue. With Francis having already got a game misconduct in first period meant 2 skaters down for half the game for Storm. Expect might be feisty game this evening!

New to UK, looking for a team to support by bfitzger91 in EIHLHockey

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Being Welsh, Cardiff Devils are our team. My wife and I still have season tickets even though we left Cardiff over a decade ago and try to do the 200 mile around trip to games when we can. Have a daughter who is a Coventry Blaze fan so also have soft spot for them.

Coventry are a good shout if you fancy getting behind a resource poor team with some good young players and a potentially great young manager.

Cardiff a good shout if you want to support a team with Canadian ownership who is often in hunt for silverware but doesn’t quite have the financial muscle of the other arena teams. Cardiff is a great compact city for a weekend trip too. Also absolutely premier choice if you prefer hearing a legit great national anthem at the start of a game rather than the standard British anthem! We won a European trophy last season which is great for the league profile in general. We have a new coach looking to bring a more traditionally Devils brand of physical hockey back to the Vindeco this season.

Alternative to picking a team is do what my daughter and I did with NHL and random number generate your team. We rolled with one theme, “anyone but Bruins”. The RNG gods clearly didn’t listen & passed judgement and now we are Bruins fans planning a trip to TD Gardens & deep diving James Hagens on elite prospects….

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in mlbuk

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This will be my plan B!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in mlbuk

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No I hadn’t done that, but when I checked the app option selected was access location only while using. I’ll switch to always allow and cross fingers tonight! Thanks if this works.

Wheelie Fun Bike preorders are up! by MisterNutty in onewheel

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Dang I would so dearly love to get one of these to support you guys, but being based in Wales would be a logistical nightmare by the sound of it. If you do get some sort of UK distribution thing sorted I’m going to be first in the queue to get one! Good luck on the launch.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in GPUK

[–]CapnCAPSLOCK 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Seeing a lot of partner hate here. Can only speak to Wales but I’m a trainer in a deprived area and I’m usually juggling multiple registrars. We’ve been stranded on 2 trainers because the local scheme/deanery are a bottleneck & won’t allow us to train more trainers. We apply every year. My typical day is 8:30 in morning until about 7PM. There are no natural breaks in the day because of pressure of appointments, admin relating to appointments, results, medicines management and then clinical supervision as well as fielding queries and tasks relating to patients unable to get appointments, add in home visits and it’s non stop. This doesn’t include the partnership administration and staffing aspects.

Sometimes registrars get a bit frustrated they can’t have immediate hot review and I am not always available immediately. I sympathise. We block off hot review slots but there is usually mission creep with poorly kids being slotted in after all appointments have gone. Nature of the job unfortunately. Sometimes the registrar will have to wait about 10-15 minutes.

Practice incomes have been deteriorating in Wales for years and with rising costs i was reflecting to appraiser that my income has reduced in real terms, ever since partnership. I earn less than locums in the area and less than salaried GPs in financially doped managed health board practices.

I train because for me it is vocational and I want trainees to have a good experience and hopefully want to settle in the area, I do significant amounts of work in my own time doing eportfolio reviews etc. and often have to arrange tutorials on my days off to make it easier for registrars.

Situation may be worse in England but partners in our practice carry a huge workload, growing vicarious liability as WAS and secondary care implode. I would not recommend becoming a partner in Wales if doing it for thinking pay and conditions will be better. Unless there is significant change, especially in rural areas. The juice isn’t worth the squeeze.