Skip to main content

CLINICALLY: CLERKING AND CLECKING


A typical medical practitioner knows all about this process of clerking, this is basically the first thing he does when attending to a patient i.e. he clerks.
Clinically, clerking involves:
1.      History Taking- involves taking demographic data, noting the main presenting problems, past medical history, history of main presenting complaint, family history, occupational history, drug history, alcohol history e.t.c. Basically, it helps in determination of symptoms.
2.      Physical Examination- is useful in the elicitation of signs of the disease in question.
3.      Provisional and differential diagnosis: the clinical history and physical examination conducted will help the clinician arrive at provisional diagnosis, from which he arrives at a differential diagnosis.
4.      Management Plan- involves investigative procedures (e.g. haematological investigations) as well as a treatment plan for the diagnosed disease.
How about clecking? Clecking is not a word that’s used too often, except with regards to twitter. It is actually derived from the Welsh word “clecan”, that means “to gossip”. Cool, right?
Anyways, a clerk cannot be a cleck. It is ethically wrong, so I was taught, and so I know. A clerk, who doubles as a cleck is violating the confidentiality code between the patient and the doctor, and this might consequently breach the patient-doctor relationship.
However, at times, it is also debatable because sometimes, this code might be breached if there is an overriding duty to society, the doctor has the patient’s permission to do so, on strict legal grounds, if it is in the patient’s best interests or after death.
Point noted, I hope?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DOKITA

 EPISODE 3 ‘Oya sorry now, we’re almost there.’ Felix kept saying as he partially carried his dear friend.  She wouldn’t hear the last of this episode once it was over, that much he knew! ‘Awww…you don’t know how painful awww… this is’ ‘Sorry, sorry’ ; he kept saying So they eventually got to the ER and after pulling out her card, used ‘medical student connection’ to see the resident that was on call in Internal Medicine unit. ‘Hello dear’ , Dr. Brown said, looking keenly at the girl that was almost doubled over in pain ‘I think you should lie down on that couch’ ‘What exactly is the problem?’ ‘She just started complaining about her abdomen about half an hour ago’ ‘Oh’. ‘Can you point to where exactly the pain started?’ he asked ‘Here’ . Linda pointed to the area around her umbilicus. ‘Have you had any episode of vomiting?’ ‘No sir’ Felix answered spontaneously. ‘You must be her boyfriend, right?’ Dr.Brown asked, with a mischievious grin ...
Post a Comment
Read more

DOKITA

EPISODE 5 ‘So, really, whose patient is she?’ Doctor Afuarida asked with impatience written all over his face Bola indicated, her body language reeking of timidity, ‘Sir, she was supposed to be my patient, but I haven’t been able to clerk her’ ‘Oh, really? She was supposed to be?’ ‘Do you even have any other patient on the ward?’ ‘Ehm…no sir. But my other patient has just been discharged’ ‘Please, leave my ward round. You are obviously unprepared to truly learn the art of medicine.’ She knew better than to plead and therefore, walked out with the little dignity she still had left. He continued lecturing the rest of the students ‘You know, whatever you do now will speak later in life and especially in your medical career. If you want to be a good doctor, it definitely begins from now- taking responsibility’ Dr.Amao, please give me a summary on this patient ’22 year old female, had appendectomy done. 1 st day post-op. Mild pain at op-site. Currently on IV Met...
Post a Comment
Read more

WANNABE INTERN

Week 2 Message to the Pre-Intern: don’t lose hope! Week 2, for me, was 2 months post-induction. This was when the wait began to sink in. You mean I’ve been home for two whole months? By now, I was literally chewing on my fingernails. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t scared of getting a space, but I certainly wasn’t confident about any place anymore. That is when I began to write this book. Today is the 12th of September and I sit at the dining table in my parents’ house, typing at 11:27pm (because well, I have an editing job to finish up, but mostly because I don’t have to go anywhere tomorrow morning). If I don’t want to, I don’t even have to take a bath tomorrow morning because well, I can stay indoors all day! (I most likely will stay indoors, except for those few minutes when I step out to buy hot akara for my akamu). I am spent. You know, I have applied to a couple of places now. Let me start with the first: LS Health Service Commission At the State Health servic...
1 comment
Read more