Chanelle Gatt

As a GP Trainee, I played a crucial role in the daily running of the Health Centres where I was stationed while simultaneously developing my clinical skills and gaining comprehensive experience in primary care. My responsibilities included:

• Patient Consultations: Conducting thorough and empathetic patient consultations to assess and address a wide range of medical concerns.
• Diagnosis and Treatment: Formulating accurate diagnoses and implementing evidence-based treatment plans in collaboration with senior medical staff.
• Preventive Care: Promoting and implementing preventive healthcare measures, including vaccinations, health screenings, and lifestyle counseling.
• Team Collaboration: Collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, including nurses, specialists, and administrative staff, to ensure comprehensive patient care.
• Medical Record Management: Maintaining accurate and up-to-date electronic medical records, ensuring compliance with data protection and confidentiality policies.
• Continuing Professional Development: Actively engaging in continuous learning and professional development activities to stay abreast of the latest medical advancements and best practices.
• Communication Skills: Effectively communicating medical information to patients and their families, fostering a patient-centered approach and ensuring informed decision-making.
• Training and Supervision: Receiving supervision from experienced General Practitioners and participating in educational programs to enhance communication, clinical skills and knowledge.
• Emergency Response: Responding to medical emergencies and providing immediate care as part of a rapid response team in the Treatment and for patients requiring home visits.

I started working with Active Aging and Community Care (AACC) via MFH during the Covid period. I felt that, as a doctor, my medical services would have been of more benefit to the community when working in the public sector as opposed to simply private. My job during this period involving medical responsibilities in Elderly Homes. The Homes that I currently work in are Mtarfa Home, Mosta Home, Zammit Clapp Hospital and Msida Home (before refurbishment started). My responsibility included medical care for the residents, the complexities of which had a wide range. They ranged from simple queries such as advice regarding over the counter medications and procedures like ear syringing and complex medical scenarios like unresponsive residents. This experience has further enhanced my knowledge on how to manage situations with the elderly in both the medical field and other sections in life such as issues with loneliness, quarrels with other residents and lending an ear to the elderly who simply felt the need to talk and be listened to. Furthermore, this has also continued to help solidify my skills in working in a multi disciplinary team, in which each member has a different profession.

• During this period, I was mostly responsible for the walk-in patients at the clinic in Burmarrad and occasionally at the IMCU in Sliema
• I saw cases that are mostly seen in General Practice such as Upper Respiratory Tract
• Infections, Ear Infections, Muscular problems, Gastrointestinal upsets
• Rashes, blood pressure, diabetes, headaches among others
• I also dealt with more acute cases such as asthma exacerbation, lacerations needing sutures and chest pains
• During this time, I continued building on the skill-set that I had gained during my rotation in General Practice
• I continued working on seeing patients as a front line medic and patient education.

24/07/2017 - 22/10/2017 Geriatrics
This rotation was carried out at Saint Vincent de Paul Residence and Karin Grech Rehabilitation Hospital. My responsibilities included general medical duties including assessment of acute medical emergencies which also encompassed discussions with seniors regarding who could be managed on site and who needed to be referred to A&E. I was also involved in the day to day management of patients, safeguarding against any adverse drug reactions from polypharmacy and dealing with patients with several chronic comorbidities. I also attended the weekly lecture that was held at KGRH and participated in ward rounds.

23/10/2017-21/01/2018 General Surgery
During this period, I was responsible for pre-op assessments, consents and organising appointments for patients who were found to be not fit for surgery. I also attended ward rounds, attended surgical procedures in the operating theatre, had the opportunity of helping in some procedures and had the opportunity of seeing patients and planning their management, with the input of a senior, at surgical outpatients.

22/1/18-22/4/18 Trauma and Orthopaedics
My duties were quite similar to those in general surgery. Those included pre-op assessments, consents, appointments for unfit patients, ward rounds and any work entailed with the ward round, assisting in the operating theatre and with procedures. I also attended the daily Trauma Meeting, where discussions of trauma lists and trauma patients were conducted.

23/4/2018-22/7/2018 General Internal Medicine, specialising in Endocrinology
My responsibilities for this rotation were mostly general medical and night duties, during which management of acute medical emergencies was expected. I was also exposed to different Endocrinological problems, in particular diabetes, when I attended outpatients. I also attended the anticoagulation clinic and morning Diabetes Education Meetings.

23/7/18-21/10/2018 Obstetrics and Gynaecology
My duties for this rotation were similar in nature to surgical ones. I was responsible for pre-operative assessment, consents an appointments for unfit patients. I also participated in sutures, outpatients, wars rounds and any work that was entailed from the ward rounds. During this rotation, we also worked closely with other specialisations, in particularly diabetologists,as expectant mothers were kept as fit as possible to avoid any complications during
pregnancy and labour.

22/10/18-20/1/19 General Practice
During my rotation in General Practice, I was responsible for reviewing and management of patients accordingly. I also gained skills such as suturing, ear syringing, removal of foreign objects from ears and nasal passages, management of acute situations such as asthma exacerbations and recognising when a patient needed a referral to Accidents and Emergency. I also became more proficient at dealing with patients on my own, teaching and educating patients about their medical questions and queries they might have had. My medical acumen also increased greatly during this rotation as I was dealing with patients of all ages, from young babies to demented senior patients.

21/1/19-21/4/19 Accidents and Emergency
My duties involved clerking and planning investigations on patients, with senior input and reaching a provisional diagnosis before the patient was admitted or discharged. I became more efficient in working in a stressful environment with high stakes and working in a team. I was also involved in resus cases and also learned how to recognise a deteriorating patient.

22/4/19-21/7/19 Psychiatry
Currently, I am responsible for participating in ward rounds at Mount Carmel Hospital and clinic-based practice at Child & Young People Services and Paola Mental Health Clinic, during which most of the patients suffer from Intellectual Disabilities and/or other psychiatric conditions like depression, anxiety, scizophrenia, personality and mood disorders to mention just a few. I am also involved in medical needs and emergencies during duties at Mount Carmel Hospital during both the day and night.During this period, my knowledge of
psychiatric conditions has increased exponentially and confidence in dealing with such conditions has also improved.

• My experience involved teaching English as a foreign language to students from several different nationalities
• Their ages ranged from 10 to 17 years of age
• Each class used to consist of from between 15 to 25 students of different ages from different countries
• My skill in overcoming language barriers was enhanced as well as setting and preparing lessons, correcting students' work and final assessment of what they learnt during their stay.