Friday, July 31, 2009

The Doctors are OK with this?


Yesterday in "The Times" a nice article was posted about the revolutionary way in which doctors will receive education about CLINICAL genetics, this time it is from NonClinical Scientists......

At the tune of 4.5 Million British Pounds!

This may work with CGCs, oh wait, they don't do much of anything in the UK system.

What about clinical geneticists?
Who?

Ok, scientists it is......


So I can just see it now.

A busy NHS practice, patients out the door, flu shot here, flu shot there and in rolls the "Scientist"

Clinician-"Oh hi, you must be the genetics guy sent from the government. Have a seat, I'll be right with you"


4 hours later

Scientist-Sitting nicely, waiting

Clinician-"Ok, lets chat over lunch"

Scientist-"Glad to be here, Let's talk about what a chromosome is"

Clinician-Scarfing down a sandwich "Ok, that was great, gotta go. I am double booked. See you in a few"

4 hours later


Scientist-Sitting Nicely, waiting


Clinician-"Sorry about that, I had a sickie and then the crazy lady....G-d where did the time go?"

Scientist-"See you tomorrow?"


Clinician-"You bet, I feel better prepared already"


As nice as this one is, I have already tried it with a clinical geneticist who actually can create billable events and see patients........ I am not so certain that going to the doctors will help as much as being on their iPhone or on a hotline.......

The Sherpa Says: When climbing the mountain for the first time, it is best to chat with someone who has been there before.....Muin and Franics, I hope you are paying attention here.

2 comments:

Red Herring said...

How intriguing! As a clinical geneticist with several decades of direct patient care experience, I second your opinion that this is unlikely to fix a broken system. What will be most enlightening will be the forthcoming SACGHS report on Genetics Education, due in 2010.

Steve Murphy MD said...

Thanks Red,
I really thought this way might work, with CGCs. We read about the model in Scotland NHS, tried it out with no avail. I don't see how someone without the clinical experience could be "pushy" enough to teach in a busy clinic. There are some PhDs with clinical experience who could, but my guess is that in England they are few and far between.