Dr Grace Torres from Park Central Family Practice at Campbelltown believes getting to know her patients holistically helps ensure she can give them and their families a personalised approach to healthcare.
How long have you been a GP and how long have you been practising in Campbelltown?
I’ve been in general practice for 20 years. All of it in the Macarthur area, including Elderslie and the Camden area. I’ve concentrated on Campbelltown for the past 17 years.
When/why did you decide you wanted to become a GP?
I wanted to do primary care since medical school. I grew up in a healthcare system in the Philippines wherein the initial contact by patients is through a specialist – “any doctor closest to home and whoever your family knows”. So, you may end up seeing a dermatolgist for a child’s cough and colds. Being a specialist is also regarded as superior to general practice, so everyone ended up training to a specialty. When I moved to Australia, I was lucky enough to do hospital rotations in all the specialties to help me decide the pathway I really wanted to take and hopefully pursue for the rest of my life. I was in fact interested in most of them but I realised that general practice provided the most comprehensive approach to patient care. The training was also suitable for young families to achieve a balanced work and home life.
What do you love most about being a GP/what part of the job gives you the most satisfaction?
Knowing the patient holistically, attending to their physical symptoms, correlating with their mental state, psychosocial issues and past experiences allow us to manage each patient with a very personal approach. Seeing a patient longitudinally, following up to assess their progress, being aware of their day-to-day function, knowing their cultural background and preferences allow you to tailor your management to achieve improved compliance and therefore optimal outcome. What gives me the most satisfaction is the feedback from patients, knowing that I’ve helped them, from a simple understanding of what’s going on in their body, to how our routines start to cause some organs to malfunction and manifest as physical symptoms and how they are empowered to take control of the situation and therefore improve health and wellbeing.
What is the most important thing you/your practice contributes to this community?
I believe the cycle of good physical health equates to healthy mind which equates to feeling happy, content and peaceful. Emotions can present either because patients are in a crisis or is least prioritised because there is a lot of deeply rooted conversations to be had in order to manage. It is usually easier for both the patients and the GP to present and deal with physical symptoms. The management of most physical symptoms come down to a good sleep, a healthy balanced diet and regular exercise. So, I put a big effort into emphasising these three foundations to optimise health. I talk a lot about sleep hygiene, healthy eating and trying to set a good example by encouraging patients to make exercise fun and enjoyable. I’ve started a group of patients to attend Campbelltown Parkrun and make an effort for myself to turn up regularly on Saturday mornings at 7am for a 5km free, council-run group walk/run. We also participate in other challenge walks in the area to emphasise awareness of physical activity in a social setting that is fun and enjoyable. The practice has also started a cycling team which involves other doctors, practice manager and any patient who is interested. We participate every six months in two major charity bike rides to raise funds for Lifeline in March (The Bobbin Head Cycle) and Multiple Sclerosis (Sydney to Gong) in November every year.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
There’s no more time left ! I work Monday to Saturday, and then there’s fitness classes after work before going home (at least 30 minutes of functional training, cycling, running or swimming). The brain and the body work well with a good balance of work, physical activity, proper nutrition and enough sleep.
Tell me about your ideal day…
A full list of patients with a good mix of chronic disease and acutely sick patients, a lunch break is essential but we sometimes can miss it. We also use our breaks for the all the doctors in the practice to debrief: to share our cases and opinions on management or alternative treatments and hopefully, get to leave on time to get to a gym class and then home for dinner and family time.
What do you love most about Campbelltown?
Campbelltown is an area with high medical needs for both complex cases and acute illnesses with highly variable cultural backgrounds. Patients are really in need of physical care – even the basics of health education focusing on nutrition, physical activity and self-care. There is a lot of opportunity for lifestyle modification counselling. I’ve been in the area long enough to look after three generations of families and be aware of what chronic diseases exist in the family and how I can help them prevent or delay developing it. Now, when I see the younger patients from families I know, I say ‘I want to help you now because I’ve told grandma that if she’d been helped 20 years ago she would not be in the bad state she is in now’.
What advice do you give your patients about maintaining good health?
I have a different approach for each patient, depending on what stage in life they’re in. Sleep is always very important so I can start talking about sleep patterns from babies through to teens, young adults, young families, middle life up to elderly. If there’s going to be some lifestyle modification needed, I usually emphasise that optimal sleep will improve their energy levels during the day and feel motivated for whatever lifestyle change they intend to achieve. Once we’ve achieved a reasonable decent sleeping pattern, some patients might want to improve their diet next or some would actually prefer to increase their physical activity. As mentioned earlier, it depends on the individual’s routine and preference, we negotiate what they think is achievable. Once they feel that they’ve been listened to, they feel empowered to manage their routines to achieve their goals in health. I always emphasise the basics: sleep, nutrition and physical activity and aim for higher goals. Getting help and knowing when and how to seek help during their journey is also important.