PA-Cnote Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 As a soon to be new PA-C working in FP/UC (fingers crossed), I will no longer have the ability to tell a patient that I need to talk with my preceptor, then come back with a good answer. Of course during that brief few minutes before I present my case to the preceptor, I am feverishly researching what I think is going on and how I will treat it. I'm sure being in a generalist field with such a breadth of possibilities, I will encounter many situations where I am unsure of what I want to do without asking a colleague or hitting up a reference. My question is: What is a good way/phrase to tell a patient that you need to look something up when you have no idea what the hell you are looking at? Or if you do know what is going on but you need to "refresh your memory" on the appropriate work-up or treatment. Just wondering what you guys did as new grads so you could look stuff up but still not look like a newbie idiot in front of patients. Thanks for your thoughts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jen0508 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 well when i was on clinicals and couldnt come up with a treatment plan right off the bat (or had no idea what tha diagnosis was) I would say something along the lines of "alright let me get your treatment plan together and i'll be right back in!" did this with a smile and exited promptly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted July 17, 2012 Moderator Share Posted July 17, 2012 "your symtoms can be caused by several problems. give me a few minutes to review your old chart and I will be back in a few min to talk with you". My father, a classically trained old school neurologist for many years, used to use this line when folks questioned his checking a detail or doing some review: "Would you prefer I not check and give it my best guess?" folks always gave him the time to do the review or get a consult. no one knows everything. it's always ok to check details or get a consult if you are unsure. the alternative is not acceptable. I carry a tarascon in my pocket and will check up on meds right in front of folks when they say "I just started taking xyz med" that I have never heard of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joelseff Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 "your symtoms can be caused by several problems. give me a few minutes to review your old chart and I will be back in a few min to talk with you". My father, a classically trained old school neurologist for many years, used to use this line when folks questioned his checking a detail or doing some review: "Would you prefer I not check and give it my best guess?" folks always gave him the time to do the review or get a consult. no one knows everything. it's always ok to check details or get a consult if you are unsure. the alternative is not acceptable. I carry a tarascon in my pocket and will check up on meds right in front of folks when they say "I just started taking xyz med" that I have never heard of. I do a modified version of that LOL. Literally 2 hours ago with my last pt who was exhibiting myalgias w/ elevated CPK in the 400's on Lipitor. I broke away saying "let me look into the most recent data on that condition" looked up Statin + Myopathy in up to date then came back with a plan. My SP saw the note and asked if I had trouble with it. He said he was impressed with my plan. Yay for me! To the OP, avoid thinking you *have to* know it all now that you are a PA-C. You'll run into less trouble that way. You will always have your SP, attendings, senior PAs and sometimes the NPs :p brains to pick. Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemegroup Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 I have a few, all true and I have no qualms about any of them ... emed is right that people will respect your honesty as well as being thorough rather than taking a chance with their health and lives ... "now, I remember learning about this but let me go read up on some new developments I remember hearing about ..." ... "I don't have a great deal of experience with this condition so do you mind if I get my book and we can read up on it together?" (patients love that one, they love knowing you're giving them up to date cutting edge and considering them intelligent enough to include them), "I need to go and check on one point before we proceed, I'll be right back" ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator ventana Posted July 18, 2012 Moderator Share Posted July 18, 2012 my favotire line - "I read an article a few months back that had might apply to your situation - let me go look it up quickly as I have a question about your condition that I would like to referene" never got any pushback on doing this.... no one ever seemed to mind that I was looking something up and 10+ years out I still reference uptodate about with patient questions while they are waiting in the exam room - not as muh as I used to - but I do still look things up.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PA-Cnote Posted July 20, 2012 Author Share Posted July 20, 2012 All great ideas, thanks so much for your responses! I agree that patients respect the honesty most of all and thats certainly going to be a cornerstone of my practice. My preceptor who has been a family doc for 10+ years also likes to take books into the room and look stuff up with patients, it adds a nice opportunity for patient education with pictures and what not. Thanks guys. Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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