Page 5 - Rash Talk Magazine - Issue - One

Rupert Reflects

By Dr Rupert Mason
Great Expectations

Rash Talk® was born in 1987. It was a time of the
printed word before the arrival of its modern
digital counterpart. The fledgling publication
was accompanied by its own Summary of
Product Characteristics. True to the template
Lucy says these methods help to save clinicians and patients that still exists today, the SmPC detailed items
clinicians to see more patients in time and money, there is also such as dosage and administration, contra-
any one day, with most patients a risk that some patients may indications, and side-effects. Indications were
preferring this method too, as they become excluded. whimsically described as “a restorative for
no longer have to take time off work Lucy says some patients have labourers in the vineyard of healthcare; an
or travel long distances to clinics.
already dropped out of her clinic emollient for the callouses of healing hands”.
However, Sarah says that while because they are unable to And here we are 37 years later. The burden borne
telephone and video consultations request an appointment using by today’s labourers in the vineyard of healthcare
“have their place”, she doesn’t digital communication methods. is as great as ever, if not greater. The demands
think they should be used as a This means they are solely of professional life pile ever higher. Targets must
“replacement” for face-to-face presenting at A&E when their be hit, budgets must be met, protocols must be
consultations. “It needs to be a skin condition gets too difficult followed and boxes must be ticked. And all this
complementary addition,” she said. to cope with. before you have even started to practise medicine.

Vulnerable patients Sarah and Lucy agree that plans One of the less well recognised but significant
As the NHS becomes more must be put in place to prevent pressures faced by today’s healthcare
vulnerable patients from slipping
reliant on digital communications, through the cracks, adding professionals is the growing public expectation
Lucy says we must consider that face-to-face appointments of omnipotence. Each scientific advance in
how this will affect vulnerable should be offered when needed. healthcare and accompanying media coverage
patient groups. While this is likely helps to nurture a general belief that science
is all-powerful and, when faced with medical
failure, a disbelief that “in the 21 century
st
Listen to the full this could happen”. An unrealistic faith in
podcasts here: medical science has been extended to include
its practitioners, forgetting that they all share
the very human quality of fallibility.
For those of you who feel daunted by the
expectation of omnipotence, consider the advice
of Sir William Osler (1849-1919). Aged 26, he was
appointed professor at McGill University and went
on to become one of the founding professors of
their overall health, too. In her such as habit reversal therapy. Johns Hopkins Hospital. In 1905 he was made
clinic, Lucy has implemented the This form of therapy teaches professor at Oxford University. Among his many
Vital 5 initiative, which advocates patients how to undo or reduce legacies is a slim volume entitled The Student Life,
for health improvements across unconscious habits and break in which he offers the following advice to those
five areas: blood pressure, the itch-scratch cycle, which embarking on their medical career: “Start out with
obesity, smoking, alcohol and can be difficult to manage. the conviction that absolute truth is hard to reach
mental health. Nurses can also signpost patients in matters relating to our fellow creatures, healthy
Lucy says nurses are well-placed to to the National Eczema Society or diseased, that slips in observation are inevitable
ask patients about these factors, as and the Psoriasis Association, even with the best trained faculties, that errors in
they can often talk to patients while which both have a host of free, judgement must occur in the practice of an art
administering treatments. helpful resources on their websites, which consists of balancing probabilities.”
enabling patients to take control of Notwithstanding the extraordinary advances
Drinking too much alcohol and their skin condition.
eating a poor diet can worsen skin in medicine, its practice remains an art which
conditions, so this initiative can In combining these approaches, consists of balancing probabilities. Omnipotence
improve burdensome symptoms as nurses can improve their patients’ is for a higher authority, not the poor old
well as improving overall health. overall health, yielding better labourers in the vineyard of healthcare. For you
we have revived this seasoned restorative. Take
Patients can also be signposted long-term outcomes and reducing it whole or in divided doses with fluids. Clinical
pressure on the NHS.
to non-clinical interventions experience suggests you may be rewarded
with a transient sense of wellbeing.

Visit dermauk.co.uk for free resources and samples 5