The Honest Doctor

Dr Suresh is a GP and skin cancer doctor in Brisbane, and patients can book with him at this link

Welcome to The Honest Doctor.

I’ve decided to start writing this blog because after working as a doctor for almost 10 years, I realised that whilst I was happy and comfortable giving health and lifestyle advice to my patients face to face (I wouldn’t be a very good doctor if I didn’t), I always shied away from doing so on any larger scale. I often wondered why, especially when you consider that  10 years as a doctor (half of which as a GP) is a long time, and a lot of experience.

As I sit here and wonder why, it dawns on me that this is perhaps what we refer to as ‘Imposter Syndrome’. Loosely defined as ‘the feeling of inadequacy that persist despite evident success’. What does that mean in plain English? Well basically it means that despite obvious knowledge, training and evidence of doing a great job, we still feel like a fraud. Like an imposter. This is something my fellow doctors (mostly GPs) will unfortunately know all too well. A recent article in MJA suggested that over 95% of respondents said that at some point they felt like an imposter.

As my blog isn’t specifically about imposter syndrome, I’ll let you read the linked article if you want to learn more, but this can and does apply in all professions not just the medical ones.

‘OK. So you feel like an imposter sometimes. So what are you going to do about it?’

Well there’s lots I could do. Lots I have done in the past. But what I’m going to do now is, well,  I’m going to write this blog. I’m also starting my own YouTube channel –The ultimate in-your-face metaphorical middle finger to imposter syndrome. It’s a scary yet exciting prospect.

‘OK great. So what’s your blog/channel going to be about?’

It’s going to be predominantly about giving health and lifestyle information and advice from a doctor’s perspective. I will also be sharing parts of my professional and personal life along the way.

For too long I’ve heard patients quoting misinformation from the internet, or seen videos of the untrained giving health advice, often with unfortunate consequences. This won’t be prescriptive. I won’t tell you what to do. I’ve not got the secret to all of life’s mysteries (sorry to disappoint). But hopefully what this will be is informative, fun, and a little insight in to life as a doctor.

I have topics that I want to talk about, but what I’d really love is to know what you, the public want me to talk about, so if you are interested and want to see more, please follow, subscribe and get in touch.

Dr Suresh is a GP and skin cancer doctor in Brisbane, and patients can book with him at this link