After starting his career in emergency medicine, Dr Roy Abi-Hanna, a GP at Harrington Park Medical Practice for the past 14 years, has found making a difference to patients’ lives and being able to track that difference over years, to be very rewarding.
How long have you been a GP and how long have you been practising in the Camden LGA?
I started working in general practice in 2007. I’ve been practising medicine in this area since 1998.
After graduating from Sydney University medical school in 97, I started working in 98, completing my internship at Bankstown and Campbelltown hospitals. From 2001 onwards I worked in various emergency departments, but mainly at Campbelltown and Camden Hospitals, until 2009.
I’ve been at this practice at Harrington Park for the past 14 years.
When/why did you decide you wanted to become a GP?
My initial interest and love were for emergency medicine. I decided to complete GP training as something to fall back onto in the future, as I was planning to start a family and the lifestyle in emergency medicine wasn’t very suitable, with all the shift work, nightshifts and weekend work.
For the first couple of years though as a GP, I continued to work in both, the local emergency departments and general practice, overlapping for a little while just because I enjoyed the emergency work, and I’d developed the skills needed to manage acute emergencies well and with competence.
However, once my first boy was born, it became more difficult to do both, and it’s been general practice since.
What do you love most about being a GP/what part of the job gives you the most satisfaction?
Initially, I thought general practice was going to be a boring career choice, after the daily adrenalin rush of working in emergency departments, but surprisingly it’s been very rewarding. It’s never quiet, just like emergency!
I’m most satisfied making positive differences to my patients’ lives and being able to see and track that change over years. It’s rewarding to see patients coming back for ongoing care, trusting in the knowledge and shared decision-making that’s provided to them.
What is the most important thing you/your practice contribute to this community?
I don’t believe we are any different from any other practices in this area. We all have the same goals and mission, to improve people’s health and wellbeing, and be there for the hard times.
We are a group of six doctors working at Harrington Park Medical Practice. Most of us have been around for about 14 to 15 years, a couple for four or five years. Our receptionists and nurses have been here for many years also. This has led a continuity of care for our patients, which is important, as we have developed lifetime relationships with people in the area.
I find our practice to have a good working environment. All the doctors here have similar mentalities, and a proactive approach, to the high level of care that we want to deliver. Our supporting staff are lovely, dedicated and caring. Having that stability in personnel, and pride in our work ethics is probably one of our greatest strengths and something that our community sees and benefits from.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I have very little spare time.
Apart from general practice, I do a bit of football/sports work as well. Over the past eight years, I’ve been working in the NRL, with the Bulldogs and the Dragons, and in the A-League with the Western Sydney Wanderers and most recently the local Macarthur Bulls FC. That’s my spare time fun work, outside of my four office walls, Monday to Friday work.
When I do have some free time otherwise, the rest of the weekends are usually taken out by my two boys sports or scouts’ activities.
The rest of the time is family time. I do love just sitting back, enjoying a drink and barbecue by the river or doing a bit of fishing and boating.
School holidays are all about travelling, mostly international. Before COVID-19 hit we were doing a lot of overseas trips. My boys are still young, only nine and 12, but they’ve clocked over two dozen overseas trips already, thanks to my wife. We’ve all got that addictive love of travelling.
Tell me about your ideal work day…
Getting enough time in the morning for a coffee is great!
I don’t know if there is an ideal work day. There are certain things that you don’t want or like in your day – you don’t like being an hour behind and having patients wait, and you don’t like missing conditions or making the wrong diagnoses, or feeling that you could have managed something better.
I do like to take something positive out of every day at work though. I’m ideally satisfied by getting one or two patients in a day, where I feel that I’ve made a significant difference to their lives, even if in a minor way.
What do you love most about Camden LGA?
Travelling against traffic! And I’m a westy.
I grew up in Greenacre and started working at Bankstown Hospital with secondments to Campbelltown Hospital. I was happy working in the smaller hospitals, where my knowledge and skills developed quickly. I was often the only doctor on at nights, in the early days, when I was working in the local emergency departments. There’s a lot of pathology here, a lot of medicine to be practised, and a need for the service that we provide.
What advice do you give your patients about maintaining good health?
Most of the time patients know what they have to do about maintaining good health. Everybody is always talking about it and it’s there in the media and online. My message generally isn’t any different to what they hear. A lot of the advice that I provide to my patients is about preventative health, and it’s part of most consults. I generally suggest little lifestyle changes at a time. Provide ongoing encouragement, support and education. When patients start on the journey of being a little bit healthier, I try and develop their understanding about it not being just a two-week thing. Benefits will eventually come, often after a generally prolonged period of time, and that gains are always made, even when the outcomes and goals aren’t fully reached. It’s all about educating them that the changes they make, even in small increments over time, will all add up. I get them to work on the basics of healthy living, whether it’s a low sugar or low fat diet, smoking cessation, drinking in moderation, exercise, work and family balance, health relationships. It’s advice we all hear all the time and I work on reinforcing that advice. I also traumatise them but telling them that my children are averaging a visit to McDonald’s, only two to three times in year, for at treat!