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January 21, 2017

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Make medicine personal, take strain off hospitals

WU Guixia goes to the same consulting room in Desheng Community Health Service Center in Xicheng District, Beijing, nearly every month.

Wu, 60, pays her monthly visit to Gao Fengjuan, who is a general practitioner at the community health service center. She has been Wu’s family doctor for about three years.

“Dr Gao patiently listens to my problems, clearly explains how to take my medicine, and keeps track of my health. It makes me feel at ease,” said Wu.

Wu is one of about 600 of Gao’s patients. Gao is supported by experienced doctors from a nearby major hospital, a nurse and a pharmacist. Gao’s practice was set up in 2012. It is now one of seven in Desheng Community Health Service Center.

In overcrowded major hospitals, doctors are often too busy to fully connect with patients. But in community health service centers, with less patients, family doctors have more time for each visit.

“We family doctors pay attention to not only residents’ diseases or symptoms but also their general health status,” Gao said.

This holistic approach means that rather than simply “treating diseases,” Gao uses the power of communication, and connection, to track the health and mental well-being of her patients.

“The customers talk with me about their life, families and share their experiences with me,” Gao said, “It is this relationship between patients and doctors that I value the most.”

Four years ago, Gao was asked to establish “a pioneering family doctor studio.”

Neither Gao nor her colleagues had the slightest idea what a “family doctor” was. Luckily, Gao had recently been in the UK to attend a GP training course.

Many of her colleagues had worked at health clinics across China, and so one question kept being asked: “What is so special and different about a family doctor?”

Ma Pengtao is Gao’s clinic partner. She explains: “We collect detailed health information from each customer from the very start. Then we regularly trace their health and offer advice about how they could lead healthier lives, such as drinking less or exercising more.”

She talked about one patient who, due to alcohol dependency, had liver problems.

“I called him every other week to check up on him, making sure he was eating healthily and hadn’t fallen off the wagon.”

GPs are becoming the first port of call for patients, freeing up hospitals.

The “Healthy China 2030” guideline, released in 2016, promised that the medical system will put more focus on prevention. Family clinics, and doctors like Gao, are on the front line, taking care of patients and identifying symptoms that might have been ignored in the past.

“People would often not pay much attention to early warning signs, and only see doctors when they had no other option,” she said.




 

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