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On the first day of your rotation, be sure to have your ID badge made. This allows you to eat at the staff rate in the restaurant.
This unique course gives an opportunity to visit patients in their homes. The domiciliary visit allows the doctor to assess clients in their normal habitat with other members of the family. It is always preferable to interview someone who knows them well so as to get a clear picture of behaviour.
The student can also join the on-call crisis team in the day or evening.
A crisis visit may be in the Emergency room, the wards of the hospital, a patient's home or one of the Police stations. It involves a group interview with the patient, followed by a private discussion in which a plan is formulated. Finally the patient has the plan put to him with any problems being resolved. Sometimes an admission may be offered.
The main object for the student, while at Barnet, is to learn how to take a history from a patient and present it. The doctor must try to obtain information covering many specific areas during the interview. This is best done by guiding the conversation at appropriate points but maintaining an attentive state. This provides an opportunity to develop social and counselling skills which will be valuable later. If communication with the patient is difficult then another may be chosen or a later attempt made. It is quite acceptable to interview a patient several times to gather more information and make a detailed history.
A diagnosis and treatment plan is part of the final presentation.