Hazard at Work

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 507.

I was nearly killed on Boxing Day. My job nearly got me killed. To start with, it was not a serious accident: one car off the road and two very shocked but not terribly injured passengers. I was giving assistance, that is my job: rural GP's are often called out to traffic accidents because they can sometimes get there first and often help the ambulance crews prepare patients for a long journey to hospital.

The next car down the road changed it all. I saw it coming and had time to think: surely it will stop. I remember the noise as it hit me. No pain at this stage. I was tossed across the road and scrambled up on to the verge. Straightaway I new that my leg was broken. Well, that's my job too. Still no pain. I didn't want to die, that was my foremost thought. I didn't want to die here on the roadside, so I worried about bleeding to death, about internal injuries or an unsuspected head injury. I waited for the signs of shock and tried not to pass out.

The scene was now full of shouting and crying. No one seemed to notice me. The village bobby arrived on cue. Sure my leg was broken, but I wasn't going to die. Now it hurt.

"Burn out" sums up how anyone in a carrying profession can end up responding to chronic job-related stress by loss of concern and complete withdrawal from their work. GPs are not immune. Well, I suffered a "flash out". Nothing chronic about this stress. Suddenly, lying there on the roadside with a smashed-up leg, it didn't seem worth it any more.

That was three months ago. I'm still only mobile with crutches. The practice has carried on without me – which is how it should be, for no one is indispensable in a good system. I don't need to be a doctor for a while. My patients kindly showed their concern and wished me well while they took their problems to the locum.

Because I have spent nearly nine years working often in excess of a hundred hours a week, everyone assumes my enforced idleness to be a heavy burden. It isn't. I'm more concerned that I'm not missing my work and that I'm certainly not bored. Does this mean that I don't need to be the doctor permanently?

I know why I like being a GP. I live in a good place and I work for myself. I'm responsible only to my patients, myself and my partner. It is probably useful. It involves practising a set of skills that could never be perfected and so is always a challenge. My staff and local colleagues are good company. It pays well. I get home for lunch every day.

The more nebulous rewards, the sort of things many non-doctors think we do it for - like being in a position to "help people" - tend to be counter-balanced by the reasons I don't like the job. I get used. I have to try to help with problems that should never have come my way, to which the solutions are invariably political and not medical. I cannot prescribe jobs or better houses or better relationships. I can try to be supportive, but just a few patients can create a mountain of hassles. I'm sometimes over-committed and frequently over-tired. Stress is an everyday problem. My job nearly got me killed.

Three days after I was admitted to hospital my wife went into a different hospital and had our second baby. It is impossible for me to express how unhappy my unforeseen absence made me. I couldn't decide whether to blame the accident (but accidents happen) or my job (but no job is without risk) or just to assume no blame.

Well, the balance remains tipped. Despite the apparent usefulness of being a GP and the satisfaction it gives me, I have discovered that the only certain reason I do it is for my family. Along with paying the mortgage, it allows us to live how and where we like. Everyone in a caring profession knows that if they do not ration their caring they can end up emotionally and intellectually burnt out. They separate themselves from their families by giving too much. I suppose I'm still bitter because there are few precautions I could take to avoid the way I was almost permanently separated from my family - and at such an important time. My resolve has been questioned. Do I need to be a doctor? The jury is still out.

(Stephen Singleton, The Guardian)

BExplain the meaning of these words and phrases from the text.

C Now read the passage again and choose the best answer to the following questions:

1. Why was the writer at the side of the road?

A. His car had been involved in a minor accident

B. He was helping the ambulance crews.

C. He could get to the scene before the ambulance.

D. He had been summoned to provide medical assistance.

2. The writer suffered

A. only a broken leg.

B. a broken leg and shock.

C. a broken leg, shock and internal injuries.

D. a broken leg, internal injuries and a possible head injury.

3. As he lay injured by the roadside the writer felt that

A. there was no point in continuing to be a doctor.

B. nobody cared about him.

C. he was under too much stress.

D. the petrol in the car might catch fire.

4. For the last three months the writer

A. has not worked at all.

B. has worked but not as a doctor.

C. has managed to work on crutches.

D. has been able to practise new skills.

5. How many really positive reasons does he find for being a doctor?

A. seven B. eight C. ten D. eleven

6. Why do a few patients create so much work for him?

A. The take advantage of him.

B. Their illnesses cannot be cured.

C. He gets overtired.

D. He sees them every day.

7. Why did the accident happen?

A. There was no particular reason.

B. The car was going too fast.

C. The doctor was careless because of stress.

D. The road was blocked by the first car.

8. The writer believes that doctors and nurses should

A. devote themselves completely to their patients.

B. accept that they will be separated from their families.

C. limit their emotional involvement in their work.

D. burn up their energy by working hard.

9. In the future, the writer

A. has to go to court to get compensation.

B. might decide to give up being a doctor.

C. will take precautions against accidents.

D. will always feel bitter about what happened.

D Imagine you are the doctor. Using the information from the text, tell the group what happened to you on Boxing Day.