In a study, benefits associated with visits to different specialists and GP’s were noted. And their impact on health systems was also noted. The human aspect of medication was life-saving but it had been neglected for a long time, University of Exeter suggests.
The leader of GP said that they truly recognize the benefits and values when a patient visits its own doctor. Royal College of GPs said that nowadays the routine of people is very busy and waiting hours for doctor’s appointment only adds to their misery. It was further stated that patients suffering from long-term health issues need continuous care.
Results of 22 different types of research occurred in US, Korea, England and Canada and it was published in BMJ Open. Out of the 22 studies, 18 studies pointed out that seeing the same patient over the time period of two years lessens death rates more as compared to the other cases.
According to many health experts, the most important thing for a patient is the continuity of care and it should be given more weight as well. Better communication is the key to maintain continuity of care in patients, said Philip Evans, a professor at University of Exeter Medical School.
The professor said for continuity of care to happen, the patient should visit the doctor more often and their regular meetings will help get to know each other. The regular meetings between patient and doctors lead to lower use of medical services, greater patient satisfaction and better medical advice from the doctor.
Nowadays, patients do remember which doctor they saw and know that seeing the same doctor help them a lot, said Sir Denis Pereira Gray, who also took part in the research. Gray further said that arranging the doctors of patient’s choice has now become a matter of courtesy or convenience. Now everyone is clear that it is only a matter of quality of medical services.
While commenting on this, Prof Kamila Hawthorne of Royal College of GPs said that team effort also matters in this situation. The vice-chair of the Royal College of GPs said that many approaches are used by the practices to build a healthy relationship with the patients and those approaches include assigning patient a particular group of healthcare professionals including a GP as well.
She further said that balancing timely access to the healthcare professional and continuity of care is a major challenge nowadays. And the answer to these challenges is more resources for health professionals and more GP’s. England is looking to tackle this problem as NHS England has pledged extra 5,000 GPs and £2.4bn per year for GPs. According to RCGP, these steps are necessary to save the future of GPs and healthcare.
Pereira Gray further said when patients visit a doctor they know, they feel more comfortable with that doctor. And that ease of situation allows them to share their anxieties and sometimes even the personal information with them. And this helps the doctor to medicate them more precisely.
But the shortage of GPs is making hard for the patients to see the same doctor over and over again. According to a report, between 2012 and 2017, chances of seeing the same patient fell down to 27%. The importance of care continuity is highly neglected in the health systems, said Gray.
A study was also made in Taiwan in which 400,000 diabetes patient took part. According to that study, patients who kept the same doctor had 50% fewer death rates to those who changed their doctor quite often. Gray said that we are talking about this in a time when the whole focus of healthcare is on new machinery and technology.
But this is the article which shows human aspect of the medicines. So when patients kept on visiting the same doctor over and over again, they are likely to express their problems more freely and likewise, doctors in such cases become more precise in providing the appropriate medication.