Tuesday, May 23, 2006

A question.

Thursday is appraisal day for Dr J.

No morning surgery. Instead a formative exercise allowing me to reflect on my practice, detail my professional development to date and set goals for next year. My appraiser is both a GP and a Man-of-the-Cloth, so I may also get my cofession heard.

"No bad thing" I hear you chorus.

This appraisal lark is fairly new to us in GPland. We all suspect it is a half baked attempt to weed out the serial killers amongst us. Dr Crippen has recently written eloquently and at length on the flawed assumptions in the Shipman report that have lead to this. Still taken at face value there is some merit in taking time out to actually think about what you are doing, and where you would like to go with your career, (other than down the pub for a pint after the appraisal that is).

As Mr Greavsie recently pointed out its also the opportunity to have a little fun. "Buzzword Bingo" is the name of the game, and this is where I need your help. The idea is to insert key phrases into the discussion at relevant points to add a little frisson to what can otherwise be a rather dull process. So my question is as follows;

This year do I go for Clash, Cure or Stranglers lyrics, and which ones in particular should I aim to shoehorn in to discussion of my various clinical and administrative interests?

Over to you gentle readers.

4 comments:

David said...

The Cure - That makes me/doesn't make me 'wonderfully, wonderfully happy'.

The Clash - 'Who are you? The IRA?'

The Stranglers - 'Looking at the peaches sitting on the beaches.'

Bonus: That feels like an ice-pick that made my ears burn.

Doctor Jest said...

greavesie-- thanks for those. Not bad though the peaches bit might be a little tough to shoehorn in. OTOH a lot of our older punters seem to be zapping back off to Spain again at the moment so I'll try and work it in somehow. And the icepick reference pretty much sums up how we all feel about our appraisals anyway so I could be on to a winner there. Will keep you posted ;-)

Anonymous said...

I'll buy you a virtual pint if you work "Friday I'm in Love" into the conversation.

Doctor Jest said...

Gents,

The deed is done. All went fairly well and it seems I am to be allowed to torment the taxpaying public for another year. It got a bit ticklish when he slipped in the old "So Dr J have you felt like killing any of you patients this year?" but we laughingly shrugged it off after a mere half hours interrogation. (It might have been the variation on the icepick line that did it).

When we got to the bit about relationships in the practice I was able to honestly say that we aren't woderfully wonderfully happy. You see last weeks practice meeting (ask any GP and they'll tell you...) had almost ended in fisticuffs over the holiday rota! "Love cats" we ain't. Well not this week anyway.

Sorry not to work the IRA line in, but my appraiser did train in Dublin... so I settled for a ramble about Career Opportunities when we got on to the personal development bit.

Couldn't quite manage the Walking on the Beaches reference either despite my earlierr optimism. Still not a bad showing I feel.

Mr A--- sorry not to have received your suggestion in time. Might try to get it into the next practice meeting though. Lord knows we need something to lighten those up at present!