Diagnosis and Risk Management in Primary Care. Words That Count, Numbers That Speak

Description

‘Medical technology is beneficial for well researched dangerous diseases. However, most symptoms that people bring to their primary care physician have no single clearly identifiable cause: investigations and drugs do more harm than good - and also waste resources…’
– Wilfrid Treasure

Diagnosis and Risk Management in Primary Care describes the best that general practice can be and suggests ways in which general practitioners can achieve that ideal. Primary care as described here is both evidence-based and patient-centred: it requires highly developed interpersonal skills and keen diagnostic acumen, and involves traditional serial consultations based on history and examination as well as a set of statistics drawn from research.

This book looks both at the broad picture and at the detail, outlines the context in which general practitioners work, and describes precisely how they might best fulfil their role. It further provides a map of the consultation and a compass to navigate through the terrain of symptoms, signs and evidence. Emphasising the importance of the therapeutic relationship between doctor and patient, it will provide resources for all medical professionals to improve patient care – whether or not a prescription is written.

General Practitioner Specialist Trainees, medical students and clinical teachers will find the book useful, as will established general practitioners with an interest in incorporating the best of modern medicine into a traditional model of care. For MRCGP candidates facing the clinical skills assessment the book will prove an ideal reader.

'What a breath of fresh air to find an author capable of putting the patient back at the centre of the consultation and who is able to entertain at the same time as he informs and to stimulate critical reflection while nudging us in the direction of a rigorous approach to diagnosis, and the assessment and communication of risk.'
From the foreword by Roger Jones

Contents

• Diagnosis
• Healthcare design
• Statistical building blocks
• Icebergs
• Numbers that speak
• Words that count
• Pattern design
• Medical education
• Risk management

Author

Wilfrid Treasure, General Practitioner, Muirhouse Medical Group, Edinburgh
Foreword by Roger Jones, Editor, British Journal of General Practice