Ultrasound scans, small instrumental checks, televisits, psychological consultations, presence of nurses and study assistants. And lots of home care, a true revolution in primary care, which will also be hi-tech. There is a lot of technology, in short, in the near future of family doctors but alongside this, “certainly very important, what will remain and continue to make the difference is the relationship with the patient, the relationship of trust with our patients which is the true strength of our profession”. Thus to Adnkronos Salute the national secretary of Fimmg, Silvestro Scotti, the day after the entry into force of the 2019-2021 General Medicine Convention – which yesterday received the green light from the State Regions Conference – outlines the figure of the family doctor 'to come', just as it can be 'designed' and perfected by the new conventional agreement (2022-2024) on which work will begin – Scotti hopes – in the next few weeks.
The ability to balance innovation and direct contact with patients will be fundamental. In general medicine 2.0, Scotti underlines, “we must certainly recover a capacity to offer, even technologically adequate, which allows family doctors to maintain direct relationships with patients. As far as we are concerned, it is very important to consider technological tools also with respect to need to maintain human contacts”.
“Our waiting rooms, traditionally – adds the union leader – have always also been a place of social meeting, in particular for the elderly, a sort of 'anti-loneliness' point of reference. Today with the dematerialized recipe, certainly very convenient, this aspect is less accentuated because there are fewer opportunities to come to the clinic. A balance will need to be found. The near-future family doctor will have to maintain the human dimension, but also focus on precision care: the technological model helps us on precision but must be integrated on a relationship level”.
Furthermore, the family doctor of the near future “will have to be a professional who is no longer 'solo' but increasingly integrated into the network of local services. But this must absolutely not mean uprooting him from his territory and from the possibility of a direct and continuous relationship with his patient. The fiduciary relationship is an asset to be safeguarded.”
Telemedicine, teleconsultation, televising, telediagnostics “are tools that will certainly become part of current activity. But this does not mean distorting the work. The doctor's objective is always to give an answer to the citizen's questions with the tools available most suited to the case”.
The “real challenge of the near future – continues Scotti – will however be the domiciliary nature of care. It is the aspect in which we must invest the most and in which the primary care of tomorrow must be remodulated. An area in which the coordination of the family doctor is central and requires the collaboration of many professional figures, from the nurse to the psychologist, from the specialist to the physiotherapist. There will be, increasingly, the need for a family doctor who organizes the home care to be provided and monitors the effects of assistance path over time”.
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