Interview - Dr Paul Manley

What I enjoy about being a Physician and in particular a Nephrologist is ultimately the care and management of the overall patient. This is not just isolated to the specific problem that they present with but also encompasses a variety of other issues that may strongly impact upon their medical management. I enjoy the long term care of patients that being a physician entails and the challenges that arise in those with complex issues. No two patients are ever the same. I also enjoy the collegial nature of Physician practice both within my own speciality and also when dealing with colleagues from other specialities.

I knew early on in my medical career that I wanted to be a Physician. Initially I was undecided about exactly what sub-speciality I wanted to train in. While I was trying to make this decision I thought about what aspects of medicine were important to me. I had a strong interest in the ongoing long term care of patients and their chronic management and enjoyed the complexities of the challenging patient. I had an interest both in infectious complications and also the immunological basis of different diseases. I spent 1 month as a General Medical Registrar relieving for the Renal Service at Auckland City Hospital looking after general nephrology, dialysis and transplant patients. I discovered that Nephrology was able to encompass all of my interests and that this speciality involved a broad spectrum of disease presentations and management issues and dealt with patients at different stages of their illness. The 3 things I really enjoy about the speiclaity are - The diverse spectrum of challenging disease processes, the long term chronic care of patients and the broad involvement and interaction with colleagues from a number of other specialities within the hospital environment.

To enter into advanced training in Nephrology you need to have completed basic training and sat and successfully passed the FRACP written and clinical examinations. Nephrology training is three years. This is made up of two core years of Nephrology and the third year may include rotations that are considered useful to the practice of this speciality. During this third year a trainee may also undertake a period of research that counts towards training.

When considering any career path it is important to look carefully at what aspects of medicine interest you. Giving yourself the time and opportunity to experience different avenues of medicine is important and discuss this with the Consultants or Registrars that you are working with at the time. They will usually be more than happy to talk to you about different aspects of their practice. One of the most valuable things that I did when deciding what I wanted to do was to talk with one of the Nephrologists I was working for at the time. These conversations are important not just when considering medicine but also when thinking about what sub-speciality you may wish to train in as well. It will help you to get a much better insight into that speciality outside of the day to day ward work that you will be familiar with.

In my spare time I enjoy mountain biking, kayaking and tramping. Pretty much anything that lets me enjoy the outdoors. What I now do in my spare time has changed a little and most of my time is now devoted to my young son Luke. This doesn't leave a lot of extra hours in the day.