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- Page navigation anchor for RE: GPs and refusal to prescribe antibioticsRE: GPs and refusal to prescribe antibiotics
I read your article about dissatisfaction of patients whose GPs are reluctant, or refuse, to prescribe antibiotics.
I am NOT in the medical profession - just a humble, elderly but active 67 year old. However, I have a 45 year old daughter who is a Consultant in Obstetrics in France. Though trained in the UK, she left soon after qualifying to marry a French surgeon, disillusioned with the NHS and conditions for junior doctors.
We, as patients, are constantly confronted with time-tied GPs, (my current GP consultation time is 8 mins!); group practices of 8 or more GPs — so one has a 1 out of 8 chance of seeing one's own GP at appointment; and are bombarded with 'taking responsibility for your own health'.
Frequently misdiagnosis has led to my being mis-prescribed drugs/treatments (very expensive and non-effective, time wasting; frustrating and depressing to all concerned.) So, I have long taken 'responsibility ' for all aspects of my own health.
After a session of single sculling on the River Severn in the Spring, I dropped a blade (oar) on my foot. This caused a small cut on my toe. Nothing serious. I treated it with antiseptic cream and thought nothing of it for a week or two.
It didn't clear up at all. In fact, it became red, swollen, inflamed and very painful. I trolled off to the GP for antibiotics. After a cursory look, he suggested I take ibuprofen and keep out of the Severn for a w...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for RE: Antibiotic prescribing and patient satisfaction in primary care in EnglandRE: Antibiotic prescribing and patient satisfaction in primary care in EnglandAshworth shows that inappropriate antibiotic prescribing can increase patient satisfaction, an increasingly important metric in primary care appraisal. Work in the United States has shown a similar effect for inappropriate opiate prescribing on patient satisfaction outcomes [free summary available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3581314/#]. Both show that the best way of reducing patient dissatisfaction is for the doctor to explain the reasons not to prescribe, but this takes time that might not be easily available. A patient leaving the consultation dissatisfied is likely to seek another source for the medicine they think they need. Blaming doctors for both inappropriate prescribing and poor patient reviews cannot be a solution. There needs to be much more emphasis on health education about the damage caused by inappropriate prescribing so that individual clinicians are not put in these "no-win situations.Competing Interests: None declared.