Working Life: Biologics have been a game-changer for some patients with asthma
Professor Patrick Mitchell, respiratory consultant physician at Tallaght University Hospital and Trinity College Dublin
'I was fairly agnostic early on in my medical training and wasn't sure what I wanted to specialise in, but I was always interested in infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases and physiology, which the area of lung diseases lends itself to.
'What really interested me about respiratory medicine is that it deals with both the acute and chronic side.
'You have patients with acute respiratory failure, which is the emergency side, as well as patients with long-lasting conditions who need help managing their disease.
'I specialise in the severe asthma sphere. The arrival of biologics has been a game-changer for some of my patients with severe asthma. People have gone from not being able to work or exercise, or participate in life, to being able to do all those things.
'One of the most satisfying parts of my job is when a patient who has started a new treatment tells me, 'This has massively improved my quality of life'.
'Covid had a huge impact, especially working as a lung doctor in Canada where we were when it kicked off. My mum passed away when we were abroad, and watching her funeral over Zoom was really tough as we weren't able to travel home to Ireland. I understand the rationale behind the travel restrictions, but it was still really tough.
'One of my chief bugbears as a doctor is the lack of an integrated national electronic patient healthcare record system. I consider it a public health emergency.
'It would enhance patient care greatly if every practitioner could access patients' medical records. Our wait lists would drop, efficiency in the system would improve exponentially, and the cost of care would decrease.
'As an academic consultant, I work 50% of the time for Trinity College Dublin. I'm a medical advisor to the Asthma Society of Ireland, and supporter of its Active for Asthma campaign, which encourages people with asthma to safely incorporate physical activity into their lives — it's a superb initiative.
'I love a lot of what I do, but it can be hard to switch off from the job. I enjoy downtime with family — my wife Claire, a GP, and our three kids, Anna, 11, Laura, 9, and Ben, 7.
'I also love being back in Ireland — it's home.'
It's Asthma Awareness Week. See: asthma.ie
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