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Faces of AMA: Dr Sally Cockburn
High profile doctors spread the word on health
In this article, published in the September 2011 edition of vicdoc, Sam Lawry took pleasure in talking with a doctor passionate about improving the health of Australians, using her role in the media.
Dr Sally Cockburn (AKA Dr Feelgood) is one of Australia's most well-known health communicators, hosting her own radio and television programs as well being a guest on many popular programs, and writing columns across a range of publications and a best-selling book on sex and relationships. Dr Cockburn also lectures on communications and medical journalism to medical students. In the meantime she continues to engage in active practice as a GP.
Dr Cockburn explains how she came to decide on a career in medicine: “I love stories; my interest is in human communications, so I was considering becoming an actor or doctor. My parents are both health professionals, medicine is more stable, and, really, I’m into solving mysteries! I really enjoy the diagnostic element of medicine.”
Yet it is the patients themselves who bring the most satisfaction. “The most rewarding part of being a doctor is being able to hear a patient’s innermost thoughts and secret fears, and become involved, almost as part of the family. You can be there for them in a crisis, they know and trust you, and know you won’t judge them, and they can just unload. I feel an enormous sense of privilege.”
Dr Cockburn became Dr Feelgood after a patient asked if she was interested in being part of a radio show, as part of a weekly health segment, and her media career blossomed from there. She is in her 21st year of radio.
“What made me want to speak on radio was the desire that people wouldn’t feel that they were alone in what they were experiencing. So many times I would hear about the same problems arising. And this drove me to the public sphere, because the sensitive issues weren’t being discussed – sex, cancer, dying – all the touchy subjects. I can visualise a listener in their kitchen, washing the dishes, thinking I am talking directly to them. I sit across from patients in my practice, and I know the reactions they will have to what I am telling them. People stop me in the street to tell me I really helped them.”
The growth of the internet and digital media has opened up opportunities to communicate with the public about health issues, but the extraordinary volume of information that is now accessible also presents some challenges.
Dr Cockburn is proactive in utilising the internet to help her patients navigate their health issues. “We need to embrace the net, as our patients are. We can help them by advising them which are the reputable sites. If I am giving a diagnosis and I know they are going to go away and look it up I go online right there, and show them. PCOS is a classic example, a patient will google it and find a forum that gives her the worst case scenario. It can be extra work, but it is important.”
Social media is also a new phenomenon, which Dr Cockburn feels is a potential hornets’ nest for doctors, particularly for this current generation and those coming through. “They will have five to eight years of information about them – including photographs - that may be available to employers…and there are real challenges in managing patient ‘friends’.”
Media, though, is also a mechanism to generate change. “I’ve been working very hard to encourage doctors to talk to the media, to not be afraid. Journalists just want a story. Doctors are more open to the media now, feel they understand it more. I think GPs in particular are great advocates for their patients. My advice to them is that if they can speak on radio, they can really get their point across.”
Dr Cockburn, who lives with her law student daughter, confesses that she loves what she does. “I do enough medicine to love it. Work/life balance isn’t just about work and rest, but the other things you can do with your life. I work enough days to see patients and get results back. I have my media work. I’ve just started a sculpture course, which is fascinating, with a group of women from all walks of life. I do dressmaking and my new addiction – more puzzle-solving – is researching my family history.”
She doesn’t include the numerous other roles she holds, including on the Board of Vic Health, or the many accolades she has received for her active involvement in a variety of agencies and taskforces.
Dr Cockburn continues to pursue her passion for demystifying health, and making health information publicly available, while providing a GP’s perspective through her involvement in boards and committees.
“I’ve worked a long time in live talkback radio. It took time to convince people in radio that health is a standalone topic, but the public really wants health information. The beautiful thing is that on a show you have time to explore all of the issues, unlike in a clinical appointment. We can answer all those questions people forgot or didn’t even think of asking. It goes a long way towards people having a much greater understanding of their own health.”
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