Defining The Role of The GP In The Primary Healthcare Team

The GP genome and phenotype 2009- 2020 RNZCGP White Paper : Dr Jo Scott-Jones

In 2009 we celebrated Darwin’s 200th birthday anniversary. At the time general practice was debating the rise of the Nurse Practitioner, and what that meant for medically trained people working in the community.

It seemed appropriate to link the Darwinian concept of evolution, what we now know about genes and how they are expressed, with the need for adaption to a new environment for our profession.

As part of that debate the RNZCGP published this “white paper” – a discussion document intended to contribute to the debate and stimulate thought. The discussions resulted in a NZMA led symposiumm and publishing in 2011 of a consensus statement on the role of the doctor.

As we look to a future where General Practice teams are increasingly reliant on multiple professions working together on behalf of people and communities that know them and are known by them, it is timely to review the messages shared at that time.

Clinicians work in a symbiotic relationship with each other – we cannot do what we do alone, there is no single profession that can do everything that the people we serve need.

Medical training, culture and professionalism allow those of us who are medically trained to regularly take ultimate responsibility for medical decisions and diagnoses in situations of complexity and uncertainty, drawing on scientific knowledge and principles, clinical experience, and well-developed judgement.

Medically trained people, especially generalists, can appropriately carry the large amounts of risk when a person with undifferentiated symptoms presents seeking help.

As we move forward into the next decade, with the inevitable challenges in workforce, workload, funding and access to care, we would do well to remember we are all in this together.

None of us can do this alone.

Dr Jo Scott-Jones