“Been gardening recently, off to Australia soon. Positive and active, it seems ludicrous to ask him the depression screening questions, perhaps he will be more depressed when he has been on the the holiday of a lifetime.”This demonstrates two essential rules of note-writing: never write anything you would not want the patient or their relatives to read, and you can laugh with but never laugh at the patient. I saw him again today: it had indeed been the holiday of a lifetime and he was still extremely positive.
As for me, although I like to think that my entries are succinct descriptive and witty it is not for me to say. Now there's a thought - perhaps I could get Martha to contribute to this blog? I'm sure we could do with a woman's touch around here. What about it, Martha?
Postscript: on my return from holiday today I found out what had happened to Susan. She was of course bounced straight back out of hospital, they felt her poor gait was due to a painful knee. The facial asymmetry remains unexplained, and one of my partners (the pithy thinker) is trying to convince the staff at her care home that masterly inactivity is best.
6 comments:
I trust that years of training and experience with a true perspective on what's vital in the true sense of the word would engender a healthy sense of mirth and common sense into managing the vagaries of the QoF malarky. All good to see! And, too, I'd agree wholly that laughing with (but never about) the patient's a grand way to practice.
Please Martha please..........
We read so much about her :-D
I love it! Martha's writing, that is...
Come on, Martha!! Contribute!!
Thanks to all for your comments.
I will attempt to twist Martha's arm.
HEHE! Each GP that i've been with in my time at medical school has moaned about how bad their typing is. In fact, the last one asked me to type up all his patient summaries when each patient had left (this was actually quite useful as it helped me to learn how to summarise)
Little Medic: I bought a typewriter as a medical student and typed up my "long essay" myself. Later I got interested in computing before they invaded our consulting rooms. Now I would happily throw the damn things out!
Learning to summarise is a useful skill, so keep at it. :-)
P.S. I'm afraid that Martha is reluctant to contribute at present. Her modesty is charming but entirely unwarranted. I shall continue to cajole her, in the hope of gently wearing down her resistance, and to report her "bons mots" from time to time.
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