Dr Lai Shan Lowe
Meet GPTQ medical educator, Dr Lai Shan Lowe
Dr Lai Shan Lowe has over 13 years of experience in general practice and is excited to be teaching the next generation of GPs.
“In my day, I can go from excising a skin lesion, to caring for a pregnant woman, to plastering a broken arm, to calling an ambulance for someone with respiratory distress, to helping prepare for a coronary artery stent for heart disease, to just being there and available for someone in crisis. The variety I get in general practice is as diverse as the skill it demands of me.”
Finding her fit
Brisbane born and bred, Dr Lai Shan Lowe can’t recall exactly when she first thought about medicine as a career, but says it was fairly early on.
“As a small child, I remember being interested in the way our bodies work, but I was too young to say I wanted to be a doctor. Then in high school, I thought I wanted to be a journalist so did work experience at the local newspaper. But after a week, I decided it wasn’t for me as I really didn’t enjoy the ‘hard-nosed’ nature of it,” she says.
But the experience did highlight the parallels between journalism and general practice, her eventual career choice.
“It’s about connecting with people. It’s about understanding them as a person and finding out their stories. It’s only then that they allow you to be their doctor,” she explains. “One of the other skills you develop as a GP – just as a journalist does – is to translate complex terminology to everyday language.”
Deciding on general practice
Lai Shan studied at The University of Queensland where she first did a science degree with majors in physiology, pharmacology and biochemistry, before embarking on her medical degree. After completing that, she spent four years working in the hospital system and then decided to specialise in general practice.
“I love general practice as it allows you to consider the person as a whole and not just focus down onto a single part. Other specialists are highly skilled with certain conditions, but GPs need to be able to investigate, diagnose and in many cases, commence treatment, for any medical condition that presents to them across all age ranges,” she says.
Lai Shan says the fact that GPs don’t have access to “scan results and high tech investigations within the hour” means they have to rely on using all the tools in their toolkit.
“We’ve actually got to use our history taking, examination and clinical reasoning to work out what’s going on. I think the skill this demands, and the opportunity we have to connect with our patients, gives GPs the potential to be the best type of doctor,” she says.
GP work and hospital experience
Lai Shan currently works three days a week at a practice in Albany Creek, as well as doing a half a day of medical education with GPTQ. She dedicates another full day to performing external clinical teaching and practice accreditation visits.
Of her practical work, she says there are many reasons why she enjoys it so much, but the relationships she develops with her patients is perhaps her favourite.
“It’s amazing the difference good GPs can make in the lives of the people they care for. It’s not just about ‘doing medicine’ to people. It’s not just about the right investigation or the right diagnosis. It’s about knowing your patients and becoming a trusted person in their life which allows you to be a more effective doctor,” she says.
Nowhere was this more evident when Lai Shan returned to the hospital system after practising as a GP for a decade.
“I worked as a medical registrar at a tertiary hospital for a year to refresh my knowledge. I had the privilege to observe some excellent medicine, but noticed it sometimes failed to appreciate the patient as a person. While the teaching emphasised the correct investigation, diagnosis and treatment, it sometimes left aside communication and a connection with the patient,” she explains.
“If you don’t understand your patient or their context, you can investigate, prescribe and discuss a million different things, but they may not matter. If the patient is left wondering why they should trust you, it’s not likely they’ll do any of the things you’ve suggested,” she explains.
“I saw that many times in the hospital when patients were readmitted days after discharge. The medicine was outstanding but the doctor failed to appreciate the whole person and to communicate, so it just didn’t work. GPs are uniquely placed to help improve this aspect of medicine.”
Teaching focus
Medical education has always been a part of Lai Shan’s career, having taught med students when she was in hospital system, both during her postgraduate years and when she journeyed back as a medical registrar. Her most recent hospital experience has shaped her teaching focus.
“I moved into formal medical education with GPTQ because I want to be involved in teaching, inspiring and fostering clinical reasoning and communication connection in those training to be GPs,” she says.
But for Lai Shan, it’s not just about helping registrars develop their communication skills with their patients, it’s also about getting them to understand the need to nurture themselves to enable them to become better GPs.
“I’ve got some registrars who’ve been in the hospital system for many years and are veterans of that culture. No matter how high you turn up the pressure, they will step up because that’s what they’ve been trained to do, sometimes at the expense of themselves,” she says.
“As a medical educator, I’m passionate about helping them develop compassion and empathy for themselves, recognising they’re only human. You’re no help to anyone if you’re struggling yourself.”
One piece of advice Lai Shan offers on this front is to ‘stay connected’.
“General practice can become very isolating. You need to make the effort to remain in contact with colleagues. Develop an interest outside of work and remember to look after yourself,” she says.
