the family doctor helps to orientate- time.news

by time news

Faced with a serious illness, many people decide to move, often from South to North, towards structures known through “word of mouth”, this choice should instead be shared with your doctor who can indicate the most suitable centers

Mistrust and word of mouth drive many patients who live at South to undertake trips to the hospitals of the North for treatment that in certain cases they may receive in their region. “I decided to have an operation in Milan and I return once a year for the follow-up: everything is more organized there,” says a woman from Bari who had received a diagnosis of breast cancer in her city. Like one of his fellow countrymen, who went to Tuscany for thyroid cancer: «I sent an email to the head of the department and shortly after I had the surgery. My cousin had had a good experience, I trusted him ». «I chose to go to Veneto to have my knee prosthesis implanted on advice from friends. The first visit was paid for, the rest under public regime ”is the testimony of a citizen of Monopoli. “I did not inform the general practitioner, as soon as the dentist noticed an abnormal wound on my mother’s tongue, I had her biopsy privately, then I took her to Lombardy for surgery,” says Anna from Naples. Same trip for Luigi and Maria, both for a hip replacement. Him: “The waiting list in Naples was for one year, in Milan for four months.” Her: “I did not ask the doctor for a referral, I made an appointment in intramoenia with an orthopedist who receives here but also works in a Lombard clinic”.


A fundamental role

Bypassing the family doctor and getting by in the search for the treatment path to follow is a frequent attitude. “The role of the general practitioner is fundamental, because he knows theassisted, his clinical history and that of his family, knows how to indicate the health structures of reference at the provincial or regional level for his pathology and guides you to a conscious choice of the path “says Ignazio Grattagliano, regional president of the Italian Society of General Medicine for Puglia. «Evaluate whether it is justified to resort to highly skilled specialized, more concentrated in the structures of the North, as in the case of a particular trauma to the eye or a rare disease, or if on the contrary it is advisable to contact a specialized center in the area for more ordinary interventions, cataracts, vascular surgery, for replacement of a joint, or to have chemotherapy or radiotherapy ».


The networks

In short, healthcare becomes more accessible if citizens also do their part. Silvestro Scotti, national secretary general of the Federation of general practitioners, with an outpatient clinic in the popular district of Bagnoli, in Naples, denounces the misinformation among the patients: «Sometimes they do not know the reference centers near home. The first thing they have to do then is to make us aware of the health problem so that we can guide them first of all in the offer of services available in the area ». The Campania oncology network in 2019 inaugurated an IT platform to facilitate the path of diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients and avoid as much as possible escape to hospitals outside the region, which can also be accessed by family doctors (currently 400 registered
4 thousand). “The system allows us to report the patient with a suspected tumor, which is taken care of within seven days by the multidisciplinary operating unit to perform all the tests useful for diagnosis and start therapy” explains Scotti. “Another advantage of the portal is the possibility of staying constantly informed about the patient’s clinical conditions and the procedure he is following”. The platform allows oncology specialists to forward the request to the ASL districts for the home activation of palliative care and pain therapy, for transfusions, catheter management and other medications, or for hospitalization in hospice.

August 22, 2021 (change August 22, 2021 | 16:15)

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