We GPs are practical types.

Not only do we like to tell people what to do, we also like having the skills to do things that help the patients that we see, whether in consulting rooms or the emergency department or in random situations where a doctor is required.

“Somebody do something!” is the demand that has us springing into action — dramatically perhaps, by pounding on the chest of someone in cardiac arrest like they do on TV, or more often rather mundanely, by cutting off a lump or lending a listening ear or prescribing medication.

We jump to it because we are conditioned to do so.