Using the Booklet
Summary
We hope you have found this training to be informative and useful. Patients value a personal approach, and it is not our intention to try and get you all to conduct these consultations in exactly the same way. You will no doubt have developed techniques and tools over the years that you find helpful in dealing with these consultations, and we hope that you will be able to combine these with use of the booklet and some of the suggestions we have made.
The key learning points are as follows:
- Parents often report feeling ‘fobbed off’ and not receiving all the information they need.
- Addressing this problem may result in greater parental satisfaction and fewer re-consultations.
- Antibiotic resistance is a major global concern, but is also a problem at a local level. Recent antibiotic use in an individual is associated with a greater likelihood of having a subsequent infection with resistant bacteria, and this leads to worse outcomes.
- Widespread use of antibiotics does contribute to increasing resistance and it is therefore important to target antibiotic use at those most likely to benefit.
- Evidence suggests that the likely benefit from antibiotic treatment for most common RTIs is minimal.
- Take a good history and do a thorough examination.
- Discuss the booklet within the consultation, and endorse its use.
- Ask about the parent's main concerns.
- Tell the parent about the expected duration of illness.
- Ask the parent if they have any expectations (in particular, ask if they were expecting antibiotics).
- Give guidance on self-care.
- Review signs of serious illness and triggers to re-consult.
- It
can be easy to see these consultations as an opportunity to 'catch-up',
however doing so may, paradoxically, be resulting in a greater workload
through increased re-consultations, not to mention parental
dissatisfaction and increased antibiotic resistance!
Please print this page for reference.