Product Description

The Consultation, published almost 20 years ago by the same authors, has been completely rewritten. The New Consultation will be an essential aid for all doctors and their educators to increase the effectiveness of their consultations and to help to make them more patient-centred. It includes theoretical background as well as practical help for both consulters and teachers. The consultation is 'the central act of medicine': the meeting between the patient and the doctor. The first part of the book takes the reader from the context of the consultation in society and with the medical profession, to the intimacy of the consulting room, and then delves into its processes. The reader is invited to share the individual perspectives of doctor and patient and to consider what will lead to positive outcomes. The last chapter of the first section puts all these factors together and provides a coherent, evidence-based description of the processes needed for an effective consultation for the patient, the doctor, and society. The second part of the book takes the reader into the practicalities of learning and teaching effective consultations. It starts with a brief description of the evidence for effective teaching and outlines the authors' experience of teaching in this way with over 1,000 doctors. Realizing that many doctors organize their own self-directed learning, the authors have included a chapter that enables individuals to develop their own consulting technique. Help is offered for teachers of the consultation in both undergraduate and postgraduate settings. The consultation is now assessed by a number of the royal medical colleges to measure competence and there is a chapter on these issues. The last chapter discusses the difficulties that many doctors still have in conducting patient-centred consultations and makes some suggestions for effective implementation of skills.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68163 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 152 pages

Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vol 97
" . . . deserves to have a wide readership."

Review
The first edition of this book has long been a classic about skilled consulting. The authors have managed the impossible, the best just got better... This is well researched, well explained and well referenced - yet readable. This will inevitably be another success. (Practice Nurse )

[It] deserves to have a wide readership. (Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vol 97 )

... excellent teaching and learning text... This highly recommended book is successful in its desire to inform, guide and redirect the teacher or learner. (Hospital Doctor )

I appreciate its clarity, rigour, and coherence. It is an especially valuable book because it raises questions which apply to many professions, it is about much more than medical consultations... [a] very stimulating and very good book. (Theodore Zeldin, Templeton College, Oxford )

Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vol 97
"[It] deserves to have a wide readership."

Customer Reviews

Essential
This is an essential book for final year medical students and GP FY2 doctors.

Is provides a very good insight in the structure of the consultation in primary care.

the first few chapters deal with what goes on before the patient meets the doctor and what factors can determine the outcome of a consultation before it even takes place.

The most important chapters to read are the TASKS on the consultation which lay the road map of most successful consultations. These 3 chapters compromise less than 50 pages and can read and understood in less than 2 hours.

More time can be spend reading about mapping and teaching consultations skills , but this book will provide the junior doctor all she/he needs to know about the basics of a primary care contact.

The reason I give the book five stars is because the authors manage to explain something relatively complex in a way that is easy to read and understand.

Concise and Comprehensive
As a new GP Trainer, I was anxious to refresh my knowledge of the Consultation through David Pendleton and his co-authors' eyes.
It is a comprehensive work which makes references to Pendleton's previous teaching and succinctly cross-references to other pioneers of consultation analysis. Pendleton criticises those whom over the years quoted his rules or tasks out of context which he says renders them meaningless. He explains how they should be used and each chapter is summarised at the end.
The text does not make for light reading but themes re-occur, thereby aiding continuity. I would highly recommend this book to Trainers and Registrars.