New Year’s Resolution

Several decades ago, with the introduction of patient electronic records for medical practitioners, the ability to use simple paper based pathways was lost as the practice management system companies made it impossible or near so, to individualise the way in which we were able to usefully manipulate patient information.

This meant that simple A4 page with a map for future investigations based on the patient history and any other relevant history such as family history became redundant.

A far more complex multi virtual page, multiclick process was offered and in spite of multiple requests to the practice management system companies to move from geekville to useful, these requests fell on non-receptive ears.

So where is this taking me in my New Year’s resolution.

During my General Practice years I had a mantra ‘don’t die of predictable and preventable disorders’.

Medically, we have the ability to investigate in some detail the current status of the human form. Those western lifestyle diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, diverticulitis, arthritis, cancers, dementia and many others are all able to be detected early in the preclinical stage and their outcomes manipulated by surgical intervention, nutrition, lifestyle changes and medication.

Depending on your age there are different appropriate evaluation tools.

Those in their 50s and onward should all have had a colonography, carotid ultrasonography, Pulse Wave Analysis, exercise electrocardiograph, blood work to include apart from the standard blood work, inflammatory markers, vitamin D, homocysteine, fasting insulin and a mouth swab for gene sequencing.

Using these tools and parameters one can identify, early on, changes that will lead to devastating health consequences.

If your medical advisor resists doing these tests on the basis of they are not indicated, change your medical advisor immediately.

Happy New Year