There was once a young nurse who went to see a GP for back pain. She said 'its just muscular but I can't sleep, I've tried panadol and nurofen, nothing is working.' He gas her a script for panadeine forte and told her to come back if it didn't improve. She went to work after running out of her pain relief, and asked her doctor friend to write her a script for something stronger. The friend obliged. Being a busy young nurse, when that script ran out, she asked another doctor at work. Before long she was taking strong pain killers every day for the back pain. After a few months of this pattern, a doctor in the hospital finally said 'why do you need such strong pain killers for your pain???' and finally, this pain was actually examined, a history was taken, a scan was done, only to find that this young nurse was riddled with a rare type of cancer.
Can you see the blind spots in this story? Doctor's and nurses make terrible patient's. They are blind to their own health, they often don't have a regular GP to take care of them, they don't listen to advice. They think they know better, but it is hard to think straight about yourself or your loved one when it comes to medical care. Countless medical parents who have presented very late with extremely unwell children will a-test to this! I for one cannot be trusted with my own children's healthcare. I would ignore everything! Fortunately my non-medical husband has realised this and will take our children to our doctor for review when unwell.
Secondly, this young nurse kept asking someone different every time she needed a new script. She was embarrassed to need something, and so she rotated around and got someone new each time. There was no continuity of care. Maybe if she had seen the original GP after another week, he would have probed more, he would have questioned why a young person required such heavy pain relief for her terrible pain. Continuity of care means that your serious diseases or problem will be discovered more quickly. If you bounce form person to person, the new doctor will never really know how much this issue has plagued you.. They are starting from the beginning each time. Giving the same advice. 'If it doesn't get better, go chat to your GP'. As a doctor, I have a rule. If a patient sees me 3 times for the same issue and I haven't figured out what is the cause, I get a second opinion or I order more tests.
With the fragmentation of care, with online prescriptions and convenience medicine meaning people see who ever they can for their ailment, rather than their regular doctor, diseases are being poorly managed, delayed diagnosis and poorer outcomes.
My advice to everyone out there, is have your GP, someone you like and trust. And stick with them. Don't let convenience distract you and fragment your healthcare.
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