LOCUM DOCTOR IN THE SPOTLIGHT – DR PRIYA PATEL
Dr Priya is one of Blugibbon’s locum doctors that somehow finds the time to hold a weekly yoga class for our team and any doctors that want to join.
A keen traveller, including embarking on a few sailing trips across some beautiful parts of Europe, she hails from the UK but has found a comfortable place to call home in Australia.
Working in Emergency Medicine always has its challenges, the intense high-pressure scenarios require a cool head, despite the stresses around them.
Her first role in Australia in a suburban ED tested her resolve to the limit. Two and a half years of scenarios, demographics and presentations that were different to her UK experiences, certainly gave her resilience.
But one of the biggest revelations was the differences in access and process to healthcare compared with the motherland.
Priya notes that as a Doctor here in Australia, you are asking yourself different questions, and when she considers that Doctor she was then, to what she is now, the learnings and skills have completely transformed her.
The workload is actually higher, and a deeper level of treatment in her eyes, but generally less hours worked. The baptism of fire lasted a year to feel completely comfortable, and she noted at the time that there was no real support from a wellness perspective or even a basic induction, and she felt isolated.
Mentorship and a true interest in how a Doctor may be feeling and coping were missing. Her passion for looking after oneself was born out of this experience.
Fast forward to 2021 and Priya’s gratitude for her work life and personal life now is immeasurable. Discovering locum work and having flexibility and balance has been life-changing.
Despite COVID and the recent lockdowns in Sydney, Priya has the autonomy of her work schedule again and realised it wasn’t medicine that was making her anxious, more so the environment was key.
Even the locum recruitment process has been the polar opposite for her. In the UK she felt it was a numbers game, first-in best-dressed and led largely by mass SMS notifications. Down Under, Priya has felt a more concierge experience.
She is in no way deluded to infer that locum work is for everyone, and of course, there are sometimes negative reasons why a locum position may be available, but the personal touch and going above and beyond just providing locum shifts has been a key reason Priya trusts Blugibbon to work around her lifestyle.
Part of that lifestyle is that intense passion for Yoga, and her now weekly sessions with the Blugibbon team. Working in an Emergency Department can be difficult for peers and colleagues to connect, with different shifts and breaks, so if we can attempt to bring people (Doctors and others) together for a short period and to switch off then that can only be a good thing.
Although she admits, her current home suburb may be in lockdown but she is grateful that it is a beautiful part of the world regardless.
The ocean is a big part of her life, having been a deck-hand on many boats in Europe, and although not so calming at the time, the benefits of living by the water for the mind work for her. As does meditation, but not necessarily always the structured kind.
Just being in a place of stillness is the most important thing, so that you are able to then connect to the endless thoughts running through your mind.
Simple practices every day work for her, such as an eight-minute yoga sequence, a three-minute breathwork and a ten-minute meditation.
If you are keen to join Priya and the Blugibbon team for some much-needed calm right now, or if you just want some guidance on your locum plans for 2022, call us on 02 8960 6445 or email hello@blugibbon.com
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We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of our land – Australia. The Gadigal of the Eora Nation are the traditional custodians of this place we now call Sydney.
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