The Pain Clinic

My housemate is a physio, and he currently works in pain management. I always like talking to him about his work, because he's so passionate - listening to somebody THAT engaged with their vocation makes me wonder how people could ever let themselves become drones, only in it for the paycheque.

As part of a uni subject, I had to conduct an interview with somebody about their organisation, with a focus on communication. I chose my housemate because I not only find the Pain Clinic interesting in itself, but because he speaks so enthusiastically about it.

Regardless of whether or not I gathered enough information for my assignments (I did), I learnt a shitload about how they operate. Not necessarily the finer details of pain management, but how the department is structured and go about their collective mission.

I held a preconceived notion that any Government-funded department - particularly one in health - would be very hierarchical, with a top-down management structure to ensure their work was tightly regulated. Nope, not even close. The pain clinic he's involved in have seemingly shed all ideals surrounding power, authority and position-based dominance. Instead, the team operate under a flat structure, with everybody considered to be on equal-footing - regardless of professional titles or accolades.

While it's not exactly a free-for-all, it seems to have created an incredibly symbiotic and highly functional team, and it's very refreshing to know that this particular portion of the public purse is funding a health service run by such passionate and innovative individuals.