The Blog Effect? II

Had a straightforward surgery this morning. All males, between the ages of 25-50 and with good, clean-cut problems. No faffing around, no time-wasting, just talked about the problem and I dealt with them directly. During my training, my trainer continues to speak about expectations of the patient and hidden agendas. Today there was none of that which is a relief. Sometimes having a hidden agenda can be interesting, but on other occasions I'd much rather prefer the straightforward patient - much easier on the brain especially since I'm so tired (as usual).

Speaking of hidden agendas, part of my training focuses on certain questions to ask each and every patient. The two questions I've been told to ask are "what do you think is the problem?" and "what were you hoping I could do for you?" This, apparently, is the easiest way to get to the bottom of the problem and discover whether there is anything the patient is not saying and provides the doctor (i.e. me) with a better understand of their expectations from the appointment.

Bearing this in mind, Jughead told me about an appointment with her GP recently. He was a GP Registrar, so similar to my position. Jughead had an earache, similar to ones she had had in the past due to wax build up. When she saw the GP she gave the history and how she'd like the doctor to check her ears for wax. Instead of doing the obvious, the doctor then started asking her "so what do you think the problem is?", "when you made this appointment, what were you hoping for?" When I heard this, I couldn't stop laughing! It seems I'm not the only one taught about hidden agendas, but surely a bit of logic needs to be applied and he should've realised that not every consultation requires those questions. Jughead was extremely perplexed and in the end he didn't even examine her ears, but simply prescribed some eardrops. By the end of the consultation the doctor knew what Jughead's expectations from the appointment were, but he didn't actually check to see the exact problem in the ears! What if it wasn't a wax problem?

I agree that these questions are extremely useful for a lot of patients because sometimes I don't have a clue why they made the appointment and other times the problems seem complicated and need these questions just to establish a certain expectation level. However, there are times when the problem is very simple and obvious and these questions are a waste of time, or in Jughead's case get in the way of a proper consultation! So the next time you visit your GP surgery and the new doctor starts asking these questions, stop him/her if it's inappropriate and be more direct. I told Jughead she should've just stopped the doctor and been direct with him.

Moving on and because I can't think of a particular topic to type about today, (similar to when I typed The Blog Effect?) instead I'll type about a few news reports I heard on my way to work this morning. The first was the report on the launch of the Al-Jazeera English news channel later today. This should make some interesting view; it should provide a better look at the Middle East from an Arab point of view. Unsurprisingly it will be banned in America where all the coverage from CNN, NBC, FOX etc is so bias it's not fit to be called 'news'. I'm expecting the channel to show the view from the Arab world, a view we hear very little about and it should be interesting, especially with people like Sir Robert Frost lined up to present.

Another interesting news story was the compensation for prisoners, detailing how drug addicted prisoners are suing the government for denying them their drugs causing them severe discomfort and pain! So basically, we are paying for their stay in prison and then they are asking for more money to be spent feeding their addiction. Absolutely farcical, (there's a new one for you Miss G2S) What's to stop other prisoners claiming that they're addicted to certain food or activities and demand that they receive compensation for that as well? Sounds like the opening of a can of worms.

Lastly, today’s Thought of the Day on the Today programme on radio 4 was pretty much a rethread of yesterday's blog! The lecturer from Lancaster University (I forget exactly what he lectures on) spoke about Iraq and how dire the situation is and how although recommendations have been made about Iran and Syria's involvement, whether they will be followed remains to be seen. Perhaps he read my blog! Highly unlikely I know, but a nice thought nonetheless.

Also, before I finish, just want to quickly state that I was able to exchange my camera I bought from Jessops yesterday without any hassle, despite there being a dent on the camera which must've been there when I purchased it as I had not dropped the camera. I exchanged it for the Canon Ixus-850IS camera which seems to be much better.

It's been a pretty boring blog today. I guess it was bound to happen. Admittedly some of the other blogs may have been boring, but today is probably the first blog that I've felt bored about whilst typing! Don't expect to receive many comments for today; perhaps instead you could suggest some topics you'd like me to type about?

Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?