Excerpt of Dr. Go-At’s Interview with Dr. Liu on delivering telemedicine. Conducted at the Abbotsford-Mission Pub & Papers Scholar Evening 2020.
Dr. Go-At: G.O.A.T.! It will help you with telemedicine.
G stands for GATHER information. So, listen to your patient and gather as much info as possible. Remember William Osler said, “Listen to your patient. He’s telling you the diagnosis.”
O stands for OBSERVE. You can still observe a lot of things. Is the speech rapid? Slow? Do they sound breathless? Do they sound happy? Sad? I bet you can almost do a full MSE with speech alone!
Dr. Liu: You can???
Dr. Go-At: Kid–you got so much to learn. And A stands for AFFIRM. Affirm with your patient. These are awkward times. Be honest with them. You don’t know the answer either. They will respect you the better for it. And finally, T stands for TEST.
Dr. Liu: TEST??!? How do you TEST in time of COVID?! The labs are closed, the x-rays are closed, the ER is…well it’s not closed, in fact, it’s too empty.
Dr. Go-At: Test–if it’s an earache–you know the timeline of event. Test! Book another appointment–follow through. If you got the diagnosis, you know the timeline. So, check your work by booking another appointment. It’s that simple!
Dr. Liu: G.O.A.T!
Dr. Go-At: Yes! G.O.A.T. Gather, Observe, Affirm, Test. Try it. Forget the SOAP note. It’s a lot of silly suds with no substance.
#GOAT #GatherObserveAffirmTest #GreatestOfAllTime #PubAndPapers2020
UBC Family Practice Residency Program: Abbotsford-Mission Site 