"Friends, colleagues, distinguished professors and lowly registrars. Thank you for attending this conference to hear the changes we propose for the relationship between you and your patients with complex systemic auto-immune disorders such as lupus.
From now on, the traditional roles are to be reversed.
- patients will be writing and holding all their own clinical notes.
- all reports and assessments will be sent directly to them.
- should you wish to see any reports or assessment before an appointment, you can submit a written request to the patient - although they may withold some of the notes from you if they think it might be in your or their best interests, or if it is inconvenient for them.
- it will also be up to the patient to decide whether you get to see copies of any other correspondence related to the case.
- you will, however, be responsible for ensuring that any information that is held in other clinical locations (for example at the GP practice or other specialism) is kept together and to coordinate communication between these services
- you will also be required to experience any investigation and to take any medication you advise for the patient [uneasy mutterings] Oh - don't worry, you can always stop if you experience any adverse effects
The only thing that will remain unchanged is that whilst you will be professionally responsible for the consequences of any clinical advice you give, the patient still gets to live with the consequences of any treatment for the rest of their life.
I will take questions in a moment, but just to anticipate the obvious one - "How can we possibly be expected to make good, thought-through, approriate decisions under those conditions?", my answer is "This is how your patients currently have to take those same deicsions. So surely you can't consider them unreasonable....?"
Thank you."
are you having a bad day? like the bit about our notes and them trying the medication.
but thanks x
The darker side of lupus #9
Letter to my MP re Hydroxychloroquine
