Life as a GP
Dr John Cass-Verco 
John is currently nearing the end of his training with GP Synergy Sydney in a general pathway, working mostly in metropolitan Sydney. He achieved the highest result in the RACGP fellowship exam for 2009.1 and will be awarded the Tony Buhagiar Memorial Medal at the RACGP Fellowship Ceremony.
Why did you decide to become a GP?
I decided to become a GP because I am passionate about prevention, continuity of care, managing a diversity of medical problems and paediatrics. GP combines all of these aspects and more!
What do you enjoy about being an urban GP?
I love the depth of relationship you develop with your patients as a GP and the continuity of care, the clinical diversity and the fact that GPs are accessible to the whole community, treating very diverse bunch of patients of all walks of life and socioeconomic backgrounds from marginalised communities to practices with special interests to conventional family practice. I appreciate that as specialists become more sub-specialised, GP is expanding and taking on much of the work general specialists were responsible for.
What are some of the challenges of being a GP?
There can be downsides to continuity of care and some patients can be very draining to interact with. Sometimes the diversity of skills required to be a good GP can be overwhelming.
Where are you currently training?
At a modern, well resourced practice in the Inner West.
What’s your current training practice/s like?
It is a great practice full of very competent doctors, nurses and practice staff. The practice offers holistic, patient-centered, evidenced-based care. It is efficiently run allowing me to focus on providing a high level of care to my patients.
What types of patients do you see?
The thing I really love about the practice is that I see the full sociocultural spectrum of patients, including a large population of aboriginal patients. Given my special interest in paediatrics, a large proportion of my patient's are children.
In one day, what types of cases would you treat?
It is not a practice of coughs and colds. An average day will be filled with complex physician level medicine, paediatrics, O&G, minor surgical procedures and mental health. The diversity is great. I also do home visits weekly for my palliative care patients and review patients at the local hostel.
What do you think makes a good Supervisor?
Someone who has time to spend with you, has insight into the issues that GP trainees struggle with, the ability to give both positive and constructively negative feedback and is themselves a highly competent doctor who strives to be better.
What kind of in-practice teaching do you receive?
There is always the opportunity to ask questions regarding difficult consultations and I have a 1/2 teaching session with my supervisor every week, devoted to the discussion of a clinical issue or a particular case. All the doctors attend a weekly practice meeting and there is a weekly debrief with a psychologist. This gives us all an opportunity to understand the dynamics of the patient-doctor interaction more fully.
Would you recommend General Practice as a career to others?
I think that GP is a highly underrated specialty. GP is professionally challenging and immensely rewarding. I also love the fact that it is conducive to a healthy work-life balance. I am already highly recommending it to my medical colleagues!