We can all think of doctors who are less than ideal. They might be rude or arrogant or uncommunicative. Recently, I was unfortunate enough to witness a doctor who is barely safe.

This doctor doesn't understand many disease processes they treat on a daily basis. This doctor doesn't understand the key points of presentations or what they mean or why, if untreated, the patient is in the deep end. This doctor cannot 'hand over' care of a patient to another doctor clearly, accurately or concisely.

The doctor concerned, lets call them Dr F, applies an algorithm to each diagnostic scenario. This approach isn't entirely flawed, in fact, it's often a good way to go, especially if you've got no idea what's happening and you have minimal experience. Importantly, every part of the algorithm needs to be remembered for it to be valuable. And you'd think that with several years of clinical practice under the belt, Dr F would begin to understand what is happening, and why it happens. I'm pretty sure they don't.

Several years ago, I wrote about the Clinical Creep. A jerk of a doctor, to be sure, but a very different beast to Dr F. Essentially, I think that my problem with Dr F is that despite their efforts to be active with their assessments, plans and management, they just seem to miss the point. It's a bit scary.

I appreciate that I'm at the bottom of the clinical tree, and Dr F is several steps above me on the ladder, but I'm just befuddled at how they made it this far. Thankfully, Dr F's superiors are aware of the problem. I wonder what will happen next.