TY - JOUR T1 - Beyond patient reassurance JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 656 LP - 657 DO - 10.3399/bjgp15X687961 VL - 65 IS - 641 AU - Jonathon Tomlinson Y1 - 2015/12/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/65/641/656.abstract N2 - ‘Patient reassured’ is almost certainly the commonest concluding remark of a consultation, especially one involving a parent of a sick child. In this review of qualitative studies about parents presenting with sick children I show that what parents want and need from healthcare practitioners is assurance they are good parents and confidence they will be able to manage when they are back home with their sick child.By reflecting on my experience of watching a trainee GP consult in a GP out-of-hours clinic, I believe that reassurance is often for the clinician’s sake. The confidence building given to parents also needs to be explicit: ‘Maisy’s ears look fine, her throat is a little pink, her glands are a little enlarged, her chest is clear and her tummy feels fine, and her temperature is just a little bit up at 37.8. It looks like she’s got a viral infection and I expect she will be like this for another two or three days before she gets better.’I watched Keris, the excellent trainee GP describe her examination findings to 3-year-old Maisy’s mum. Keris looked kind, friendly and concerned as she faced Maisy’s mum, consciously ignoring the computer screen next to her. Maisy looked tired and pale and sat on her mother’s lap with her head leaning against her chest. Her mum looked tired and worried. Keris noticed this: ‘Was there anything else you were worried about?’‘No not really, thank you. I suppose, well you’ve checked … ER -