For a long time I wanted to discuss with you, dear colleagues, this painful topic… The impetus was the recent publication of a very respected dentist about a patient taking thrombolytic drugs. Indeed, the reception of SUCH (ie – “not standard!”) Patients causes many ordinary dentists to be terrified of the unknown and the unknown. But often similar patients end up in our chair under the heading of INCOGNITO, because they have not visited a doctor and have not been examined. As a result of the foregoing, I would like to raise the following question – why do we need a Questionnaire on the health status of our visitors. I foresee an indignant chorus of voices: “How could it be without her?!!!” – “And our beloved Syphilis, Tuberculosis, HIV finally?” – how can you find out all this from a patient without injuring his subtle mental organization.
Well, firstly, it is possible to find out tactfully all this (and even much more) information and reflect it in the 043/form without this very questionnaire, but the doctor will require significant time and mental costs. On the other hand, the presence of any “piece of paper” in the Patient's Card obliges you to comply with the indicated pathology. Because it turns out very ugly if hypertension is indicated on the card, and no one thought to reduce the dose of the vasoconstrictor when setting anesthesia in order to avoid complications.
“Blessed is he who doesn't know…” Ah, they oblige knowledge….
Therefore, I would like to note that when questionnaires are compiled for our dental patients, and reading EXACTLY SUCH QUESTIONNAIRE, it is immediately clear what doctors want to get as a result of the patient's answer to the questions asked. For example, “the appearance of a constant hoarseness of voice”, coupled with the question of an inexplicable decrease in body weight, may alert the dentist about the neoplasm of the larynx/root of the tongue … Well, etc. etc.
And if the questionnaire is only copied from colleagues involved in the treatment of somatic pathology, is filled out “for show” and is not monitored by any doctor before treatment/prescribing drugs, then this is a delayed-action MINA.
And of course, so that this the document was not a “filkin's letter”, doctors looking into this document should know, i.e. be trained in what to do in case of positive answers about health problems in our patients.
The other side of this coin, as I have already said, is the lack of awareness of the patients themselves. For example, treatment in the prodromal period of some caught “unpleasant” disease, underexamination, due to unwillingness to go to the doctor about a serious chronic pathology, if you do not consider simply the fact of unwillingness to provide any information about yourself. And our life-saving tactic in this situation is to treat such patients as “potentially dangerous”. his own clinic, especially since we are absolutely not legally obliged to have such a form.
And how are things going with this issue in your clinic? Do you monitor the compliance of the Questionnaire with the specifics of dental care? Who developed the form and questions for the Questionnaire in your organization? Do you consider it a necessary document or is the patient filling it out “for show”?
We will be grateful and grateful for the feedback below in the comments!