PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

P Tomson

Publications and source records attributed to P Tomson.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1986

Feasibility and usefulness of family record cards in general practice.

In order to determine the feasibility of family record cards in general practice a research secretary created cards for 1825 households from a practice of 10 600 patients. The capital cost was pound108 and the time taken by the secretary was 1638 hours, which is equivalent to a wage of pound1330 for a maximum grade secretary, assuming a 70% rebate paid by the family practitioner committee. Approximately six and a half hours of receptionist/secretarial time are needed each week to maintain the system. The doctors spent a mean of three minutes checking and completing the initial update of each card.Before the cards were introduced, most information about families was held in the doctors' heads, and little was written in the records even though the doctors considered family information relevant in 33% of consultations. After the introduction of family record cards the doctors had access to reasonably complete information about the family at 98% of consultations and the cards were used at 95% of consultations. The doctors believed the information was useful for establishing rapport, identifying patients' concerns, obtaining relevant history, forming diagnostic hypotheses and managing the present complaint. Trainees and locums found the cards more useful than principals.

England↗
PubMed1985

Sharing problem cards with patients.

The problem cards of 100 patients in a group practice were shared and discussed with the patients concerned. The patients then completed a questionnaire recording their reactions to the experience. Although the sharing of problem cards can cause patients to become anxious and raises the questions of confidentiality, patients' rights and autonomy, the replies to the questionnaire demonstrate that patients valued seeing their problem lists. Sharing problem cards gave patients an opportunity to review their health needs and in some cases to correct inaccurate information although the lists of problems were found to be reasonably accurate.The results of this experiment show that sharing problem cards with patients has a beneficial effect on the accuracy of the records and could increase the trust between doctor and patient.

England↗