Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Forewords
- Part 1 Introduction and theory
- Part 2 Primary care and the primary health care team
- 4 A patient complaint: team meetings, policy and practice values – raising awareness in the team
- 5 A well person health check, health promotion and disease prevention: different lifestyles, different values
- 6 A patient with medically unexplained symptoms: applying evidence and values for shared decision-making, self-care and co-production of health
- 7 A request for strong analgesia: honesty and trust
- 8 Asylum seekers and refugees: working across cultures
- 9 A request for a home birth and other pregnancy-related consultations
- 10 Community-based care and the wider health care team
- 11 Ageing and end of life decisions
- 12 Referrals and the interface between primary and secondary care: looking after ‘our’ patients
- 13 Living with visible difference and valuing appearance
- 14 Collaboration with other professionals: in and outside health care
- 15 Learning in and about teams
- Afterword
- Index
- References
4 - A patient complaint: team meetings, policy and practice values – raising awareness in the team
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Forewords
- Part 1 Introduction and theory
- Part 2 Primary care and the primary health care team
- 4 A patient complaint: team meetings, policy and practice values – raising awareness in the team
- 5 A well person health check, health promotion and disease prevention: different lifestyles, different values
- 6 A patient with medically unexplained symptoms: applying evidence and values for shared decision-making, self-care and co-production of health
- 7 A request for strong analgesia: honesty and trust
- 8 Asylum seekers and refugees: working across cultures
- 9 A request for a home birth and other pregnancy-related consultations
- 10 Community-based care and the wider health care team
- 11 Ageing and end of life decisions
- 12 Referrals and the interface between primary and secondary care: looking after ‘our’ patients
- 13 Living with visible difference and valuing appearance
- 14 Collaboration with other professionals: in and outside health care
- 15 Learning in and about teams
- Afterword
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter explores the issues surrounding a patient's complaint about his treatment at a general practice (family medicine) surgery/clinic. We consider the importance of good medical record keeping, team meetings, establishing practice values and the role of significant event analysis (SEA) in patient care.
It is Tuesday evening and the City Health Centre in the north of England is busy as usual. There are two GPs (one male and one female) and two nurses (one female practice nurse and one female advanced nurse practitioner) seeing patients through a mix of booked appointments (for registered patients) and as walk-in patients (who wait in a ‘queue’ to be seen). This health centre is both a traditional general practice surgery with registered patients and a walk-in centre for people requiring acute but not emergency health care. Walk-in patients do not need to be registered at this practice; they attend the centre because they are unable to wait for a consultation at their own registered practice.
David Turner is a 49 year old registered patient who rarely attends the surgery. Tonight he arrives without an appointment at 6pm and asks to see a doctor, preferably male. he receptionist informs him that the only available slot is with the nurse practitioner, who will be able to see him in about 20–30 minutes. David reluctantly agrees to this and takes a seat. From his position he has a clear view of the reception area and over the next half an hour sees practice staff coming and going, including a man he concludes is one of the GPs. This person is chatting to the receptionist for at least 10 minutes; it is difficult to hear what is being said; however, there is quite a lot of laughter. A young woman with a baby comes in and asks to see a GP, and the presumed male doctor agrees to see her there and then. Eventually, after 40 minutes, David is called through to see Susan Wright, the experienced nurse practitioner. David informs her he has had bleeding from his back passage for the last week on and of, and presumes he has a recurrence of the piles that troubled him about 2 years ago. Susan asks him some questions and then suggests she examines him.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Values-Based Interprofessional Collaborative PracticeWorking Together in Health Care, pp. 40 - 51Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012