GPs as medical leaders

The following video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmQaCZufBtQ contains an excellent interview with Prof. Aidan Halligan. He talks about his views regarding medical education. Near the end of the video, his discusses an experience he had  in Afghanistan where a GP was leading a NHS field hospital team. He admits this went against the grain, but talks about how it has influenced his work in the NHS.

Is self-treatment an occupational hazard among physicians and medical students?

When it comes to their own health, doctors may behave irrationally and paradoxically. The medical profession expect patients to seek appropriate medical help when they encounter significant problems with their health and yet doctors do not behave in this way when it comes to their own health. There is a culture within medicine that doctors do not expect themselves or their colleagues to be sick. Thus, the associated complexities of self-diagnosis, self-referral and self-treatment among physicians are significant and may have repercussions for both their own health and, by implication, for the quality of care delivered to patients. In a recent review of the literature [Occupational Medicine doi:10.1093/occmed/kqr098], the authors found that self-treatment was strongly embedded within the culture of both physicians and medical students as an accepted way to enhance/buffer work performance. Although numbers are likely to be small, the implication of potentially impaired doctors treating patients is serious.