andrewbaillie
28th August, 2001, 3:10 PM
Wow, its been a while since I posted anything on here! I think I may have forgotten how to type!!!!
I just wanted to tell you all about the time I spent in my local GP surgery last Monday (20th August), and I can assure you it was an interesting experience if a little short.
It all spawned from a chat I had with my GP after his appointments one day about doing medicine and being a doctor. It was especially interesting for me because he did medicine as a graduate too, so he was able to offer advice about universities attitudes to graduate entrants (which varies quite considerably I can assure you!) and aspects of doing another 5 years on top of the original four. He reinforced what I had already been told about hoe important it is to get some experience and offered to have me in the surgery for a while to get an idea of what general practice is like. Obviously I wasnt allowed into appointments and stuff like that but I was well looked after by the practice manager, who made sure i was shown as much of the behind the scenes stuff as possible (although she was struggling for things to show me after a few hours).
To begin with I was shown the computer system they use and many examples of the kinds of imfo they hold on them such as what screening has been done on certain pateints and their results, certain ailments they have and the priority they have (ie. which conditions are being treated first). I watched while the repeat prescriptions were sorted through, and this involved various checks such as the date that the last script was issued, etc. I was also told a few stories about addicts trying to get there hands on more drugs than they should be and other similar stories. The somputer was then used to print off the lab labels for the following mornings blood clinic.
The senior partner took some time to chat to me while he signed the days prescriptions and told me various stories and also told me how important confidentiality was as a doctor. The practice manager then took me through their procedures with vaccinations, ie. how they keep track of 'whos had what' and how the targets are affected and also how this affects the payment the practice gets in return. I then got a tour of the surgery including the reception desk where I was shown my file and the documents which make it up and also how they keep track of appointments. They felt that I had been shown everything they could think of, but I was told that I am welcome to come back if I think of anything else I want to see.
I would never have thought that so much goes on behind the scenes, and especially not little things like how many patients they have (7000) and also that each appointment is only around 7 and a half minutes.
Hope you find this interesting,
Andrew
I just wanted to tell you all about the time I spent in my local GP surgery last Monday (20th August), and I can assure you it was an interesting experience if a little short.
It all spawned from a chat I had with my GP after his appointments one day about doing medicine and being a doctor. It was especially interesting for me because he did medicine as a graduate too, so he was able to offer advice about universities attitudes to graduate entrants (which varies quite considerably I can assure you!) and aspects of doing another 5 years on top of the original four. He reinforced what I had already been told about hoe important it is to get some experience and offered to have me in the surgery for a while to get an idea of what general practice is like. Obviously I wasnt allowed into appointments and stuff like that but I was well looked after by the practice manager, who made sure i was shown as much of the behind the scenes stuff as possible (although she was struggling for things to show me after a few hours).
To begin with I was shown the computer system they use and many examples of the kinds of imfo they hold on them such as what screening has been done on certain pateints and their results, certain ailments they have and the priority they have (ie. which conditions are being treated first). I watched while the repeat prescriptions were sorted through, and this involved various checks such as the date that the last script was issued, etc. I was also told a few stories about addicts trying to get there hands on more drugs than they should be and other similar stories. The somputer was then used to print off the lab labels for the following mornings blood clinic.
The senior partner took some time to chat to me while he signed the days prescriptions and told me various stories and also told me how important confidentiality was as a doctor. The practice manager then took me through their procedures with vaccinations, ie. how they keep track of 'whos had what' and how the targets are affected and also how this affects the payment the practice gets in return. I then got a tour of the surgery including the reception desk where I was shown my file and the documents which make it up and also how they keep track of appointments. They felt that I had been shown everything they could think of, but I was told that I am welcome to come back if I think of anything else I want to see.
I would never have thought that so much goes on behind the scenes, and especially not little things like how many patients they have (7000) and also that each appointment is only around 7 and a half minutes.
Hope you find this interesting,
Andrew