The Frankenstein consultation model

• Published in: British journal of general practice Vol. 71; no. 706; p. 228
• Main Author: Senior, Tim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal College of General Practitioners 01-05-2021
• Subjects: Clinical competence; Family physicians; Humans; Knowledge; Life & Times; Literature, Modern; Medicine in Literature; Personal experiences; Professional development; Referral and Consultation
• ISSN: 0960-1643; 1478-5242
• DOI: 10.3399/bjgp21X715889

Senior's always found it heartening that much of the essential skills and knowledge of their discipline of general practice centre on defining and describing their key tool--the consultation. Having a varied set of models of the consultation was not just an interesting academic exercise, but was useful in seeing the many patients with problems not easily defined within a narrow biomedical window. These models were like having various maps of a country. In the same way he might use different maps to tell him about the terrain he found himself in--here were the roads he could take, here are the geological rock formations they walk on, here are the income gradients--models of the consultation might show his tasks he had to accomplish, or the psychological interactions playing out, or the cultural roles they were playing. However, like Frankenstein, he has tried to create something more powerful, by stitching together parts of other consultation models.