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You work as a checkout assistant at a supermarket. It’s Thursday. You’ve got a sore throat. It started a few days ago. You’re sneezing, you’re tired, you’ve got a headache. You’ve taken paracetamol already today it didn’t take away all the discomfort you still feel dreadful. You have several problems.
You want to feel better. Secretly you may be concerned that this is more than just a cold. You want to reassure the people that you are going to be well again in a few days. You want people to understand and accept that you are not functioning at your best at the moment. You want it all now not next week when you might be better or worse.
You may want information but you probably also want to have your discomfort validated and acknowledged. You’ve got some choices to make. You can try and get a doctor’s appointment. You can Google the symptoms and treatment. You can go to the local pharmacy or to your favourite alternative health practitioner. You can also try the emergency department. What you choose will depend on your previous experience of a similar episode but also on what your friends and or family suggest.
Upper respiratory tract infections are among the commonest reasons that patients seek the services of a general practitioner in Australia. It’s a presenting problem in one in twenty consultations. In the majority of cases these infections are viral and don’t require a prescription from a registered medical practitioner.
On the other hand there may be a financial cost to attending a doctor. You will need to take some or all of the day off and you may be required to queue despite you physical discomfort and it is more than likely that the doctor will tell you what everyone has already suggested that you will probably feel better in a few days. Whether you consider it useful to attend the doctor will depend on whether your needs were met last time. How do you feel at the end of the consultation? Did you feel that your visit was welcomed and that you were treated sympathetically? Did the doctor listen to you? Did they examine you? How did they convey the news that there isn’t any curative treatment available? How did they make you feel about the decision to make an appointment at the practice?
If we consider that such ‘trivial’ problems could be managed by another healthcare practitioner then we are asking for one in twenty encounters in practice to cease. How do we convey this message to our patients.
Colds are generally mild and shortlived, so there’s usually no need to see your GP if you think you have one. You should just rest at home and use painkillers and other remedies to relieve your symptoms until you’re feeling better. NHS Choices
The challenge is that most of what the patient is likely to present with as a new problem is similar: bronchiolitis, gastroenteritis, sprain/ strain, viral disease, contact dermatitis, back pain, bursitis, solar keratosis/ sunburn, tenosynovitis, tonsillitis, vaccination. These conditions or problems form a substantial chunk of the workload.
What can doctors add to these encounters that would make them a worthwhile experience for patients? Not just what might be ‘evidence based’ but also perceived as useful by the patient? Experiences that will retain the doctor and not a pharmacist, nurse, chiropractor, naturopath, homeopath, Dr. Google or ‘McDoctor-dial-a-doc’ as the healthcare practitioner of choice. In Australia doctors have typically 15 minutes. Here are some possible value adds:
- Offer advice on weight loss and exercise
- Advise on smoking cessation
- Review the patient’s medication
- Promote cancer screening
- Advise on vaccinations
- Examine the patient
- Document any possible risk factors for chronic illness
- All of the above
Back to the checkout assistant who is feeling dreadful, wants more than anything to go home after sitting in your waiting room, nursing a fever and a runny nose. It’s up to you of course but it I know which of the above I would want my doctor to do at that time. Patients tell it as they’ve experienced it and research has suggested what they are willing to pay for.
Picture by Tina Franklin