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Biomedical subjects

W H Waters

Publications and source records attributed to W H Waters.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1983

Attitudes to audit.

An exercise in audit was arranged jointly by the Local Medical Committee and the Royal College of General Practitioners in the Doncaster area. This was followed up by a questionnaire enquiring about attitudes to the audit.The proportion of doctors who did the audit was low (28 per cent overall and 7 per cent for doctors who had graduated abroad). The followup questionnaire was answered by 28 (78 per cent) of the doctors who had done the audit and by 25 (38 per cent) of those who had not. There was strong opposition to outside control of audit and some respondents even had doubts about control from within the profession.If the Doncaster findings are representative of other areas of the country, the future outlook for audit in general practice is bleak.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1980

A four-year prospective study of the work of the practice nurse in the treatment room of a South Yorkshire practice.

During a four-year study period 43 985 patients were seen in the treatment room and 61 806 coded procedures carried out. Thirty per cent of these procedures were not part of usual nursing curricula and required initial supervision and assessment or training (or both). Nearly 15% of the patients seen were making a first visit and did not require referral to a doctor. A further 17% were also making a first visit but were referred to a doctor. The treatment room made an important contribution to the work of the practice, but this would not have been possible if the staff concerned had been attached nurses requiring area health authority authorisation for procedures carried out as opposed to practice nurses for whom procedures were authorised on a personal basis.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1976

Undispensed prescriptions in a mining general practice.

Seven per cent of prescription forms issued in a mining practice were not presented at chemists for dispensing. The people least likely to present their prescription forms were men aged 25-34 years, particularly miners. To get sickness benefit these men have to consult a doctor, but the medical content of the consultation in these circumstances is often perceived by them as irrelevant and the medication rejected. Children and old people nearly always presented their prescriptions. The percentage of undispensed prescription forms for the trainee doctor was higher than for the trainer, but age may have been a factor: older patients tended to consult the established doctor, whom they knew. Drugs affecting the cardiovascular system, moderate or strong analgesics, hypnotics, sedatives, tranquillisers, and antidepressants were rarely rejected, but mild analgesics and drugs prescribed for symptomatic relief, such as those affecting the alimentary system, cough mixtures, and skin preparations, were more often rejected.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Organising a physiotherapy service in general practice.

This paper describes three years' experience of running a domiciliary physiotherapy service based on general practice and financed by limited voluntary funds.The need arose from the remoteness of, and lack of, open access to, hospital physiotherapy. This was particularly so for elderly patients who were often frail and mentally confused. In addition there were obvious advantages in properly instructing relatives in management and treatment, especially since many of the patients and their relatives expressed a desire for home treatment.There was also a desire on the part of the general practitioners, nurses, and ancillary workers to develop further the teamwork in the health services of the four villages involved. Details of the constitution of the voluntary service and its financial arrangements are given.The results of the service and the nature of its work are described. There were no difficulties experienced in selecting the correct patients for treatment and the type of equipment required was almost all normally available through the health authority nursing service. There was no great need for expensive or heavy equipment and no transport problems arose.It was found that one hour of physiotherapist's time per 1,000 patients per week was adequate to cover all patients requiring short-term intensive therapy and to allow a small amount of palliative therapy in addition, although this had not been the original intention of the service.The physiotherapist averaged about 40 hours work per month and under these conditions the travelling and costs averaged 1.54 miles and 83 pence per visit. With self-determined hours of work and flexible timing, these conditions proved ideal for a married physiotherapist with the responsibility of a young family. Expansion of the hours of work in this particular area would have led to wasteful visits devoted to palliative and placebo therapy; and extension of the service beyond the area defined, would have increased travelling time at the expense of working time. Thus there appear to be considerable advantages in keeping general-practice based domiciliary physiotherapy work on a part-time basis and looking for staff living close to the practice.

Family Practice↗