MIR does not choose primary care despite recognizing its importance

Omicron and Sixth wave brought by this variable, has once again overwhelmed the health system. Primary care is going through very difficult times, and unions, medical associations and professionals in the sector are calling for urgent action so as not to “sink”.

In the midst of a complex situation for all health workers, medical students preparing the MIR are currently living in a state of uncertainty and They see family medicine as a “totally underestimated and severely mistreated” specialty.

“is being A major underrated It may be one of the most important. Its main goal is health promotion and disease prevention, and if it is improved, higher-quality and faster healthcare will be achieved,” explains Ayinhua Rodriguez, who is MIR in the midst of health turmoil. The desire to take up this specialty is not as prestigious as the others.

Along the same lines with Rodriguez, Nerea Midajan, who is also an MIR, asserts that “Family medicine is now very punishing.” “It is a discipline in which we learn, frankly, very little throughout the course Because there is no subject as such called “family medicine”; We have a subject called ‘preventive’ but until the sixth grade is practiced you don’t see anything.”

Likewise, he asserts that he considers it a specialty that is “poorly viewed” in society. “Natives don’t appreciate it. When you talk to people and they ask about you and you say your family doctor, it’s like ‘Oh, but you didn’t MIR.’ Old people tell you that, they think anyone is a family doctor.”

Regarding the feelings of medical students, he points out that family medicine is one of the main options when starting a career but as the years have gone by, his illusion has been lost. “You think: I hope to get a place for dermatology and plastic surgery … But if I left a family, I wouldn’t mind doing it”. He explains that doctors in primary care are “too saturated” and deplores that they “are not hiring who should be assigned, and although they say they are increasing the number of places in the MIR, they have increased by 100 places.”

in this situation, The unions called for a demonstration for the next day 23, joined by the Biscay Medical Association to denounce the state of primary care “collapse”.

Jose Antonio Rey, who also prepares the Rapid Response Report, considers that, in a way, a Unknown specialty In the community. “You ask ten kids in their thirties and they all tell you they don’t know the family doctor. Those who go are the older ones.”

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However, under the “critical” situation in primary care, there are also those who are interested in specializing. This is the case of Cristina Ruiz, who says that “after I moved into the family department, the specialty that caught my attention the most forever, because I think society has a very wrong image of it. I love dealing with the patient and I think it can help change that image.” I think they play a particularly important role because they are the first link with the rest of the disciplines.”

very There are those who experienced their first health breakdown due to the pandemic during the MIR . procedure And that to this day, after getting the job, he chose to be a family doctor. Tania Otero is clear on this, and the choice of family medicine has been a success and proves to be a “very good experience”. “It’s the family doctor who treats everything, you know practically everything,” he says. “The relationship in the outpatient clinic is closer, than it is in the hospital.”

However, he claims that If primary care is overwhelmed by ‘he doesn’t understand how’ after two years ‘they don’t provide reinforcement’. “Without Covid, primary care also needs reinforcements,” he stresses.