1st Edition

What are You Feeling Doctor? Identifying and Avoiding Defensive Patterns in the Consultation

By John Salinsky, Paul Sackin Copyright 2000

    Guidelines are powerful instruments of assistance to clinicians capable of extending the clinical roles of nurses and pharmacists. Purchasers and managers perceive them as technological tools guaranteeing treatment quality. Guidelines also offer mechanisms by which doctors and other health care professionals can be made more accountable to their patients. But how can clinicians tell whether a guideline has authority and whether or not it should be followed? Does the law protect doctors who comply with guidelines? Are guideline developers liable for faulty advice? This timely book provides a comprehensive and accessible analysis of the many medical and legal issues arising from the current explosion of clinical guidelines. Featuring clear summaries of relevant UK US and Commonwealth case law it is vital reading for all doctors health care workers managers purchasers patients and lawyers.

    Morning surgery. Setting the scene. Some doctors and their references. The work of the group. The group works on the cases: threats to doctors. The personal factor. How the group reflected on the cases: metaphors and models. Patterns of avoidance: the variety of defensive behaviours. Predisposing factors. The time problem. What are you feeling, doctor? Group members reflect on their experience. What can doctors do? Implications for medical education. Appendix: 'Some medical defences against involvement with patients' 1978 Michael Balint Memorial Lecture.

    Biography

    John Salinsky, Paul Sackin