The normal day of any family physician is filled with a spectrum of situations and emotions: immense joy, surprise, excitement and sometimes sheer horror, interspersed with challenging dilemmas, stress and at times, humour. We see any number of patients usually 20-40 per day depending on location and practice characteristics, with problems ranging the full spectrum of physical and emotional ailments. And the ages range from birth to death, or as one of my colleagues described ‘sperm to worm’ care.