They meet regularly to discuss cases and plan joint approaches to co-ordinate packages of care.
GPs work as part of large multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) who all support the holistic care of any patient and these can include nurses, midwives, health visitors, pharmacists, physician associates, psychiatrists and care of the elderly specialists. Depending on their examination and diagnosis the GP has several management options which they will discuss with the patient as they develop a shared and agreed plan. Up to 40 % of a doctors consulting can now be done over the telephone, rather than in face to face encounters and the shift to using different media is likely to expand in the future. GPs look for patterns of symptoms to indicate or rule out different conditions. They also use their own knowledge to assess the likelihood of a certain illness being present over another. As anything can come through the door, they make swift and effective decisions based on the presenting symptoms, and the patient’s current and previous medical history. A typical GP appointment is scheduled to last for ten minutes, during which time the GP needs to assess the patient. In the community they may run clinics in schools and in residential and nursing care homes. GPs occasionally work as part of teams attached to hospitals with roles in accident and emergency centres, discharge planning and in unscheduled care (such as urgent care centres). There are over 1.3 million GP consultations every day, most of which take place in a GP surgery or within the patient’s home.
This is becoming more important with terminally ill patients often choosing to stay at home.
0 kommentar(er)
