Networking dinner provides insight into general practice

The Going Places Networking Dinner at Pop Restaurant on 20 October was a great opportunity to meet other doctors interested in general practice, get to know the people that make the Going Places Network happen, and catch up with familiar faces.

The restaurant overlooked the gentle rain falling on Hardware Lane and the pan-seared barramundi I ordered was beautifully cooked. 

The three speakers for the night gave their own insights into general practice. Dr Nick Demeduik spoke about his diverse experiences as a GP, from being the team doctor for a lacrosse team and travelling with them to Osaka and Canada, medical politics, working as a forensic medical officer, to marketing genius with his work in circumcisions and vasectomies. 

Next, Dr Roheela D’Cruz spoke about her unconventional journey from New South Wales as a radiology oncology registrar to coming to Melbourne and working in her second year of GP training. She highlighted the benefits of being in the GP training program including flexible hours, no on-call/pagers/public holiday work, and the ability to do things outside of medicine. She also mentioned the variety of available to GPs with a wide choice of subspecialties, clinics, patient population, pathology, research, and teaching. 

Finally, Dr James Lynch spoke of his work with final year medical students and transitioning them into becoming young doctors. He concluded with a sombre and poetic analogy about swimming and working as a GP and the importance of enjoying all the fine details of the journey versus focusing on getting to the other side of the pool. 

Everyone’s story was inspirational and really underscored the diversity of options available to doctors who choose to pursue general practice as a career. 

It was a fun, laid-back night and everything went smoothly. Thanks to the sponsors and the hard work from the Going Places Network staff for putting this together! It has definitely added some inspiration for my work in the coming year. 

Dr  Erwin Wong
GP Ambassador
St. Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne