DR James Tan did not expect to start his new job during a pandemic.<\/p>\n
Making his general practice debut in March at the city and Buninyong practices of Ballarat Medical Centre, he never could have predicted the help his initial patient would need.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn my first day, the first person I saw was a fellow GP, from a different practice, who was requesting a coronavirus swab. I absolutely had no clue,\u201d Dr Tan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pandemic was still quite fresh. No one really knew what was going on…or the follow-up plan. I tried calling the hotline and no one was picking up the phone because they were inundated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was totally daunting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enduring the crisis with positivity, Dr Tan said COVID-19 processes and guidelines have since been smoothed, public panic has settled, and his workplace has taken every challenge in their stride.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great, on a personal level, starting in uncertain times. Uncertainty is the root of all progress. It\u2019s what keeps me calm, collected and honest.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the ship is sailing smoothly, you don\u2019t really see much, but when things go wrong, you see how well an organisation works,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeneral practice can sometimes be a very isolating profession, but this practice is amazing. There\u2019s an open-door policy and everyone\u2019s happy to stop and answer any questions.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s \u201cessential\u201d to him to have these kinds of strong support structures in life, and as a medical professional, especially while establishing a career or making a move.<\/p>\n
Having relocated to Ballarat from Launceston, where his brother was also based, Dr Tan said there\u2019s another special, familiar person close by, who has attracted his young family to the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cTiarne is my wife, and her dad, Trevor runs Red Door Pizzeria in Buninyong. He\u2019s the grandad of our kids, so we moved here for his support and input.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s involved in Buninyong, helped me connect with this practice, and integrate into the community much, much quicker than I would have otherwise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe beauty of this practice is that it\u2019s all about contacts, and if someone within the family needs help, then they\u2019ll look for solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because Mrs Tan is a nurse, the pair share their own health care aspirations, with vivid pictures in their imaginations of what might be possible one day.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur dream has always been to get a little country practice going, with a fireplace in our waiting room, taking care of a butcher, greengrocer, fishmonger… Integrating into the society, going back to the basics, and that bartering type of system,\u201d Dr Tan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe absolutely love that, but it\u2019s not a very viable model to have a one-man practice now, so it\u2019s just a dream that we\u2019re going to integrate into what we have… We\u2019re still working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graduating from the University of Queensland a decade ago, Dr Tan has worked rurally, and with limited resources, in towns like Broken Hill and Alice Springs.<\/p>\n
But starting a new chapter with general practice in 2020, he recognises there are \u201cso many unknowns\u201d for students beginning their own medical careers in this climate, and getting a feel for their own professional dreams.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are potentially brand new things that we\u2019ve never had experience with. If I was faced with this five years ago as a relatively young doctor, I would have been totally thrown off because at that stage of my life and career, I hated uncertainty and everything in my life was planned,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs for the pandemic side of things, it\u2019s unexpected, and there\u2019s nothing you can do to prep yourself for it. But if it happens, we work with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy advice would be to take one day at a time, always plan around your family and focus on what\u2019s important to you. There\u2019s always a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DR James Tan did not expect to start his new job during a pandemic. Making his general practice debut in March at the city and Buninyong practices of Ballarat Medical Centre, he never could have predicted the help his initial patient would need. \u201cOn my first day, the first person I saw was a fellow […]<\/p>\n