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« Back | Home » At work with Sue Le Roux: Emergency Medicine Doctor
Meet Sue Le Roux: Emergency Medicine Doctor
CP = Career Planet
SL = Sue Le Roux
SL: I am an emergency medicine (“trauma”) doctor and I am deputy head of the unit in which I work.
SL: Being an emergency doctor is a very rewarding, challenging career decision. Every day is different, most are interesting, you learn something new every single day. My job is about interfacing with people who have needs – mostly medical but sometimes emotional and social needs too – and spending time talking to them to find out what the particular problem is. I have to shuffle through the pieces of information given to me and then, almost like a jigsaw puzzle, put the pieces together to get the bigger picture and “make a diagnosis” . Once I have a working diagnosis or a group of possible diagnoses, I have to put together a treatment plan that may involve medicine, physiotherapy, surgery, counselling or any one of a number of other possible treatment options.
Sometimes the gratification is instant – I can stitch a wound and make it better almost straight away. Other times, the healing takes longer – a bad chest infection may take weeks to get better completely – I start the patient on their road of recovery and then hopefully support them through the process.
SL: Milnerton Mediclinic
SL: No.
CP: When you were at school, what type of career did you think you would follow?
SL: I always knew I wanted to be a doctor.
CP: What qualification(s) and training do you have?
SL: Two degrees: Bachelor of Science and Medicine, so I have BSc and MBChB.
CP: Do you still do any training?
SL: I am busy with my master’s degree in emergency medicine – so I’ll soon be MPhil (EM) too.
CP: Where did you study?
SL: University of Cape Town, from 1986 to 1993
CP: What made you decide to choose that study path?
SL: I was keen on construction and was offered a bursary. The rest is history.
CP: What made you decide to choose the job that you are doing now?
SL: I enjoy people, I find medicine, physiology fascinating and my mind tends to work in the right way to solve the kind of problems we deal with.
CP: Have you ever job shadowed? If so, what kind and where?
SL: No.
CP: Have you ever done any volunteer work to gain experience?
SL: Plenty within the medical field, also medical officer for non-profit organisation
CP: Please tell us about a typical day at work. (including the main duties etc)
SL: Early start – check all equipment and results from the previous day – see the patients in the ward from the previous night – otherwise called a “ward round” – then get ready for the slow trickle of patients that rapidly becomes a torrent! Each patient is seen, examined, and given a treatment plan. Some patients require urgent intervention, others need a more gentle approach – there is no set lunch or tea time as it depends on how busy we are – there are days when you have breakfast at 3pm! The shift eventually ends and you hand over to the “new” doctor – and gratefully go home to rest. The more management role you assume, the more paperwork there is – putting systems into place, ensuring standards, making sure we remain a top class emergency center
CP: Do you work office hours or flexi-time?
SL: A combination of both – but I’m lucky – most doctors work shifts
CP: Do you work in a relaxed or a formal environment?
SL: It varies – there are times when its relaxed and other times when the pressure ratchets up very fast
CP: What is the dress code for your job?
SL: Scrubs – like you see on TV
CP: Are you satisfied with the salary you are earning?
SL: It's pretty good, yes
CP: Does your job restrict you to a certain geographical area?
SL: No
CP: Is your job restricted to a specific gender?
SL: No
CP: Describe the kind of person that you think most suits this type of work.
SL: Capacity for retention of large amounts of (sometimes seemingly disparate) information, genuine love for people, ability to function well under pressure, ability to make important decisions fast
CP: Is there anything you’d like to change about your working conditions?
SL: Higher staff to patient ratios!
CP: Do you have hobbies?
SL: I enjoy music, scrapbooking and cooking
CP: What is the thing that inspires you most about your job/career?
SL: Being able to make a tangible difference for a person in need, in a short space of times
CP: Is there any other information someone interested in this career should know?
SL: If there is any other career that can make you happy, consider doing that. If you are absolutely convinced that medicine is for you....then do it – its an amazing career.
