TY - JOUR T1 - Transparent consulting: defining a consultation tool JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 370 LP - 370 DO - 10.3399/bjgp21X716705 VL - 71 IS - 709 AU - Martin Benfield Y1 - 2021/08/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/71/709/370.abstract N2 - Watching numerous trainee videos for the Recorded Consultation Assessment (RCA) preparation, I could see how, from a patient perspective, the doctor’s questions and explanations often appear random. There was rarely transparency in the consultation. I pictured the doctors’ contributions like a spray of paint from a flicked brush, unlinked blobs from start to finish: questions about random symptoms; ‘What do you think?’ — then moving on; the cause could be this or that; I’m going to do this test, and treat with that; but look out for these random symptoms.Reflecting on my own consultations I realised I was doing something that wasn’t in a consultation model. I was throwing out big blobs during the history that were flowing down through the rest of the consultation like a water droplet passing through the differential diagnosis discussion, the management plan, and the safety net. Those blobs were transparently asking about the symptoms of specified conditions, … ER -