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Continuity of Patient care in Iraqi
Kurdistan
1.7.2012
By Dr Shakawan Ismaeel
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Ekurd.net |
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Dr Shakawan Ismaeel is a consultant physician in
acute medicine, writes about health issues in
Kurdistan and around the world.
Read more by the Author
July 1, 2012
Continuity of patient's care means that the same
medical team or doctor follows up the progress of
patient's diagnosis and treatment over the period of
their medical illness.
There have been many medical researches studying the
benefit of continuity of care and majority concluded
that patient's overall outcome is better if the same
doctor follows up the patient's overall management.
There are many advantages of this approach including
doctors familiarity of patients medical history
,medications ,adverse outcomes and investigations.
In addition the patient will also be more satisfied
as they don't have to repeat their medical history
all over gain once they see their doctor which helps
to build a good patient-Doctor relationship and
build up their trust in the doctor.
In contrast if a different doctor sees the same
patient on each visit there are many risks including
prescribing the wrong medications, inaccurate
diagnosis, less awareness of the process of
investigations which may lead to repeating the same
tests and the patient will be confused about their
diagnosis and treatment.
The problems of continuity of care is encountered in
every health system around the world but many modern
health system reducing this risk through an
electronic system which can be accessed by different
doctors that makes it easier to retrieve the entire
medical history, investigations and treatment given.
In Kurdistan the continuity of care is very poor and
patients are often left in limbo about their medical
illness as they are told different diagnosis and
given different treatment for the same conditions by
different doctors. This problem is even greater in
Kurdistan due to lack of electronic patients record.
In Kurdistan it is often the case that patients see
several doctors when they get ill on the same day to
see if they get the same diagnosis and treatment
before even trying any treatment. This is mainly due
to lack of trust in doctors and very poor
doctor-patient relationship. However this could be
counterproductive as patients could take a mixture
of their prescribed drugs with devastating
consequences,www.ekurd.net
they could be given the wrong diagnosis, their
investigations could be repeated unnecessarily and
ultimately paying a high price both financially and
physically.
One of my close relatives recently developed a
condition called a trial fibrillations which is
irregularity of the heart rhythm that could lead to
serious strain on the heart if left untreated. After
her initial treatment in hospital I recommended a
colleague of mine which is a specialist in this area
to follow up my relatives to oversea overall
management. We both agreed on a course of action and
management plan and I informed my relatives in
detail about the diagnosis and treatment. However I
later found out that the family took the patient to
see another specialist who changed all her
medications which were controlling her heart rhythm.
Subsequently she was readmitted to hospital with
very fast heart rate and heart failure.
This case demonstrate there is a culture of mistrust
in the health care professionals by patients and
their families in Kurdistan. It also demonstrates
that because of lack of continuity of patient's care
doctors can change patients treatment with adverse
outcome which could be fatal.
Kurdistan health system facing many serious
challenges the continuity of patient's care is one
of them. Education of doctors, patients and their
families about this subject combined with
establishing an electronic health record will reduce
the risk in the long term.
Dr Shakawan Ismaeel is a consultant physician in
acute medicine, writes about health issues in
Kurdistan and around the world. Graduate of
Salahaddin university in Kurdistan , Member of Royal
college of Physician (London-UK) with PGC degree in
medical ultrasound at Liverpool University. You can
visit Dr Ismaeel's Blog at http://kurdistanismyhome.blogspot.com/
Copyright © 2012 Ekurd.net. All rights reserved
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