The idea of a home doctor is not something that has been a reality in Western society for many decades, simply because the old ‘house call’ paradigm shifted away when things like public health initiatives meant more and more people required the services of GPs. This means that specialised, individual service from medical professionals could not be as easily rendered, and the system needed to change to clinics in order to render the greatest amount of help to the greatest amount of people in society.
However, these days, video call technology enables home doctors to become a reality once again, which is great for anyone who wants to try something new in the medical field. Established GP’s and people who want to be one in the future can consider this type of work and pursue it thanks to the ease at which people can communicate over the internet.
The following will examine what it takes to become an effective home doctor.
1. Intelligence and academic fortitude
Of course, becoming any kind of medical professional is going to take many years of study and hard work before you can even get tested and examined for the role. In order to become a home doctor, you will need to go through all the necessary steps of becoming a regular GP first and prove that you have the ethics and physical capability/intelligence to fulfil what is one of society’s most highly demanded and highly trusted fields.
Not just anybody can pursue this kind of career as it requires you to sacrifice a lot of free time to pursue study and take things very seriously on behalf of others. GP’s have a lot of inherent trust attached to the qualifications they work hard to earn, and this is why it is so tough to get into medical school and other institutions – nobody wants to have a bad apple compromise the reputation of their profession and the trust people have for them.
2. A strong stomach
In order to have success as a home doctor you will need to also have a strong stomach and ability to handle all the blood and viscera you may be required to deal with on behalf of your patients. While you will be looking at wounds and pustules etc over video chat, and therefore can enjoy a degree of separation from the disgust of it, you will still need to be able to confidently examine these issues for your patients so that they don’t have to.
Any home doctor who appears to be disgusted by what they see will quickly lose trust with patients who don’t want to be made to feel worse than they already do. The whole point of your profession is to give people unbiased advice and treatment, so you need to be able to behave maturely and professionally with them.
3. A good personality
Of course, a home doctor needs to be able to reassure their patients that they are in good hands and a lot of this comes down to being very friendly and supportive to patients as they go through a hard time, including showing humour when they are feeling depressed about their ailment.
You will be more successful with your patients if you can make them feel good about themselves when they are dealing with pain or anxiety from their condition, and this is what is going to keep them coming back to you and treating you as their preferred specialist. Building this rapport with patients is absolutely essential in order to be a good home doctor.
