----- Original Message -----
From: "Dunn Matthew"
> In a lot of areas, most patients would go to their GP with these symptoms.
> What made this patient come to casualty? Patients attending cas with given
> symptoms are a different patient group to those seening their GP with the
> same symtoms- there's something going on that we can't pick up from
clinical
> examination or the tests available.
I'm not convinced. Certainly in inner city departments, we see pure and
simple primary care all the time. That's the whole idea behind having GPs
practising in our departments. They approach problems from a PC perspective
and sort them out quickly with less need for investigation etc. They don't
CT every headache and don't "ROMI" every chest pain!
Perhaps I was wrong to separate the GPs' and EPs' responses Robbie, I now
note many EPs responding would also send this patient home.
Finally I get really pissed off by the "if it was your mother" brigade. That
attitude is most offensive and clearly not an intelligent way to practice
medicine, or a constructive way to progress an argument. It implies some of
us operate in two modes, the ordinary "punter" mode and the deluxe "mother"
mode. I frequently see my colleagues' mothers, wives or daughters etc and I
don't treat them any differently (medically) from my other patients. Their
only perk is that they get to see a consultant or SpR, and they don't have
to queue for 4 hours, but their medical management is no different.
Adrian Fogarty
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