Is it just me or do your clinics evolve their own theme?

My clinic sessions often reveal a theme over the course of appointments and when I asked my GP husband he said this happens in his clinics sometimes as well. Do you find the same thing?

Sometimes the theme is something unusual that a few people will bring up, other times similar clinical presentations are shared during appointments or the session is filled with challenge.

Here are some examples.

I had a clinic last week that just flowed … I was on time, everyone turned up, they were all doing really well and I was able to get home on time for a change. The theme? What a good job I have been doing with these people!

This week there was challenge after challenge. What was a full clinic was soon halved after a number of late cancellations, there were issues with a carer preferring podiatry appointments instead of diabetes education which took a lot of time away from reviewing the person’s diabetes, someone had a hypo, blood results weren’t available to review (and HbA1c hadn’t been ordered) and there was a request for equipment I didn’t have on hand. The theme this time? Diabetes care and education is challenging or … never rest on your laurels!

Other recent themes have been enquiries about travelling overseas and keeping insulin cool; Leg cellulitis flare-ups; decreasing vision requiring visual aids to support care. Now I know, because CDEs only see people with diabetes it isn’t surprising that people present with similar questions or issues to discuss. However, the reason these themes get noticed is because they are often questions or issues that re-occur during the session.

The science side of my brain tells me that as we become more experienced at reviewing people in a clinical session we get better at identifying these themes as we reflect on the session as a whole as well as individual sessions. Equally, the more people you see, the more likely you are to see these themes from the random assignment of individuals to appointment times.  The arts side of my brain though likes to believe ‘there is something in the air’ that brings about the theme!

Do you find there are themes to your clinical sessions? What sorts of themes have you identified? Send your thoughts by email to jayne@edhealth.com.au and I will put together an update article on the themes you see in your clinics.