Some years ago I saw the film called "Noget om de praktiserende læger I Danmark", made by Henning Carlsen, a famous Danish film director. When Charlotte asked me to think of an idea to bring to this workshop all I could think of was that I wanted to make a tiny version like it, showing our fantastic island and if possible how creative, clever and happy my colleges are -- being GPs on this small remote but still Danish island.
I have a strong feeling of good spirit among colleges, in the sense that we stand together in the coming struggle against lack of doctors in our GP-clinics. We have been through a process that other GPs in remote areas could learn from. We have a little sunshine-story from the sunshine- island.
Some years ago each of us felt that the future problems were overwhelming and when we searched for help among politicians, they were understandable, but could not help us. No money. We felt left alone with a coming big problem, that none of us could deal with -- and a problem for the society and not ours alone. I think that many felt that it could be necessary to either quit the job or work double up what was possible. In some way hopelessness had taken over. Many of us had relations in the rest of Denmark or in the Capitol Region working as "praksiskonsulent", "efteruddannelses-koordinator", "uddannelseskoordinator" or joining politics and we felt difficulties in getting heard and understood. We felt that we represented the ever-complaining Bornholm.
A few colleges had seen a possibility in arranging a meeting where we should discuss our common visions for the GP-future. All GPs and GP-trainees were invited. Many of us were a little sceptical. Would it be of any use? But as the day went by, the big problems turned into more concrete tasks to be done, groups were formed. A few of the coming GPs got convinced that Bornholm was the right place to settle down on this successful day. From that day we decided not to complain all the time, rather try to be positive and constructive. We realised that we had to help ourselves.
So far we have done well and right now we have a lot to offer to patients and to younger colleges. We are proud of being GPs on Bornholm. We have managed to avoid "the rotten banana" -- instead we have got many young colleges. In fact 33% (10 out of 32) of the colleges have bought their GP-clinics within the last 6 years. The mean age is much lower than in other remote areas in Denmark - right now 52 years. We have no vacancies among GPs. All GPs are members of 12-man-groups as we call them, and meet in many other relations too. We communicate a lot and try to work with the same quite high professional level according to guidelines. In many ways we feel much like a big group. It is not pity for us any more, we feel privileged having wonderful nature, good colleges and high degree of influence in many levels.
So what inspired me was the experience of success in comparison to complaints from other parts of the country.
What did you think the impact will be, why and on whom?
I want to tell a story. The young coming GPs should know that happiness not always is in the neighbourhood of the university. Many GPs in all the northern countries know that influence and creativity just as easy -- and maybe more often happens - when you are far out in the country.
The big money, the big projects, the advanced and shiny stuff is not an option in the peripheral areas, but we learn at lot from solving our own problems and doing this we can be an inspiration to bigger projects. In our area we have experienced the strength in the group of GPs, using each other, making visions and plans together is a strong experience an gives us all a feeling of safety.
Loading...
13:42
DR1, Læger Uden Grænser - del 1by RytterTV472 views
Link to this comment:
All Comments (0)