Bernard Bedford wrote:

> Why do we need to be persecutory though? In asking patients what
they have done
> so far, there must be some appropriate basics they have tried, to
commence some
> positive Pavlovian conditioning somewhere. Telling people off
against the
> messages from their  emotions and 6th senses simply confuses them.

It's 2145, and I'm a little over an hour from handing over to
Healthcall for the night. It's been a dreadful day, even by Monday
standards; several DNAs in a fully-booked surgery with extras on the
end this morning, nearly double the normal number of visits, 50% of
which - even by a lenient standard - could have been seen in the
surgery if the patients had made any sort of effort, an 'emergency'
call to see a patient at 1830 for a condition that had not changed
all day, followed by a relentless series of calls this evening; most
have been dealt with over the telephone (eg 'Try giving your pyrexial
child some paracetamol and call me back if it doesn't work'), and a
number of visits - one to see a six-month old child who had allegedly
not drunk anything for two days, and whose mother decided at 2100
really needed to be seen. The final straw: a call from our Munchausen
patient, saying that she thinks she's about to have 'another' DVT.

I admit to losing my temper a little with the mother of the
six-month-old child, who I saw (late at night) last week, with almost
identical symptoms. Needless to say, the little mite wasn't
dehydrated, just full of snot and thoroughly fed up, rather like me
only with more snot.

My point: as others have said in this thread, how on earth can we be
expected to continue to be endlessly patient in the face of such
demands on our time and energies?

Prit Buttar


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