Getting prepared before the consultation is time well spent! This is a sign of respect towards the patient and the parent.
They come to share part of their story with you. This is nerve-wracking. They will feel very vulnerable at this moment. To be ready to receive this story is one of the tasks of the doctor. We need to get ourselves in the “recipient-mode”.
How to prepare for medical specialists?
Getting prepared before the consultation is time well spent!
I am working as a medical specialist in a hospital setting. Here, the GP has sent a letter of referral to our service to arrange the outpatient appointment. This information is available to me before the appointment, therefore before me meeting the patient and their parents.
When I prepare my clinic, I will also make the effort, to get an overview in my patient’s medical background. Within the NHS, the healthcare provider also has access to previous medical records by other specialities. During the clinic schedule, I will lack the time to further gather this kind of information, but during my preparation time, I will look up as much information as possible, to form an idea about the background of the patient.
How to prepare for GP?
Getting prepared before the consultation is time well spent!
For the General Practitioner, the basic available information would be whatever is gathered by the support staff during the telephone intake.
If the patient is pre-known to the surgery, it might help to look up previous reasons for consultation or a family history in the case of chronic ailments.
What to prepare?
Getting prepared before the consultation is time well spent!
In general, I aim to understand why the patient is coming to see me. I focus on the following topics:
- Main complaint
- Previous similar complaints
- Interfering personal factors (general personal background, treatment by other specialities)
- Possible influencing aspects (family history, parental anxiety, …)
The aim is to create a draft idea of the consultation.
I then can also prepare (request) any additional investigation I would want on the day of the appointment so that I won’t need to do that when the patient enters my consultation room.
Why preparation?
The aim of this preparation of the clinic by the doctor is to understand what the main concern of the parent might be. With this prior knowledge, the whole contact can be adjusted.
One complaint that patients often make, is: “I need to tell my story over and over again. Do they not read, what my doctor has written to them?”
Coming to the first encounter is immensely helpful. This is particularly true in the interaction with children with either:
- complex needs (e.g. ADHD or ASD)
- chronic diseases
- congenital disorders
- when the young patient is treated by several medical disciplines
In all of these cases, the parent is almost a “professional parent”, used to act as the paediatric patient’s advocate in the interaction with medical specialist.
When I come to the first meeting, with an idea about, what to expect, I show them, that I care and that I respect them in their journey.
Getting prepared before the consultation is time well spent!
Is there a risk of over-preparation?
Not really. Unless, I use my preparation as the stone-set idea about what should happen during the consultation.
We need to remain aware, that any thought might be premature. We would need to remain open for the conversation to take an entirely different direction. Although, in that case, I do wonder whether the GP had listened properly to the main concern of the parent.
Getting prepared before the consultation is time well spent!
The aim of my preparation is …
- to get the main idea
- to open up the conversation about the details of the main idea
- to safe time by (pre-)ordering necessary additional investigations (if they appear to be unnecessary, I can cancel the request)
Getting prepared before the consultation is time well spent!
What is the result of preparation?
The paediatric patient and their parent know that the doctor cares. That to me is the main reason for this step. The doctor can show respect for the patient’s story by getting to know it, before they even have met.
In my observation, the parents often sigh with relief, when I open the conversation with a summary of the available information. I follow this summary by asking them if I have understood correctly, or whether they want to add anything.
The prepared doctor makes it easier for the paediatric patient and their parent to be seen and understood.
In a nutshell:
Getting prepared before the consultation is time well spent!
This is a sign of respect towards the patient and the parent.
The prepared doctor makes it easier for the paediatric patient and their parent to be seen and understood.
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