A Unicorn at 40

By Dr. Clayton Bunt

I got an envelope this week from my Medical school announcing that my Med School class will be holding its 40th Reunion. I looked at it and realized that it really had been 40 years. When did I get that old?
Thinking about 40 years in Medicine is daunting. So much has changed. New treatments, even new diseases – think COVID. Conditions that required open surgery and a week in hospital now treated laparoscopically and out in a day. Vaccines that completely changed the picture on childhood illnesses. I’m amazed that the common ear infection was changed by the Pneumococcal and Hemophilus INfuenza B (HiB) into a much more benign and less common illness. From seeing 5 or 6 a day in clinic, now maybe one a week.
So much has changed that I developed a theory I teach to every resident and student – I call it the Sine Wave Theory of Medicine. Basically, it says that over time the current state of medical thinking will oscillate around the truth. I’ve seen many things that were taught to me in Med School go on to be discredited and sometimes return again a few years later.
The other changes in the last two decades have involved a shift to electronic records and meeting quantifiable metrics of care, in other words things that can be measured in numbers. Along with this went a big drop in our independence and ability to spend time with patients.
Why a Unicorn?
This community has been blessed to have Family Practice doctors that are able and willing to extend themselves to take care of patients, doing the really broad range of medicine and procedures that a community needs. In larger towns and cities these are often picked up by specialists but there is still a need in areas that cannot economically support specialists. So we have a truly outstanding local group of physicians who can provide Emergency, Obstetric, inpatient hospital, and pediatric care, while recognizing our and the facility’s limits.
Unfortunately, as we try to recruit physicians to replace those who have retired or left, we are finding out that the medical training system is not producing docs with our interest and training. Getting training to do what we do, for my generation meant being a bit of a rebel against the specialty-oriented training system of the large medical centers. Today, there are so few students and residents motivated to become what we are, or to make the lifestyle sacrifices involved, that we are essentially looking for Unicorns – creatures that don’t exist.
So when you see one of the incredibly talented providers I work with, take a minute and appreciate what you are getting!! It might not be there forever.
So am I going to my reunion? I don’t think so. Think I’ll just go fishing.