A Picture Tells a Thousand Words 20 Apr 2016

Many GPs may already be adding photographs to their referrals but if you aren’t I thought it worth highlighting how relatively easy this is using BPAC eReferrals.

Many GPs may already be adding photographs to their referrals but if you aren’t I thought it worth highlighting how relatively easy this is using BPAC eReferrals.

The practice I work for uses the Profile Patient Management System and so I am used to things being complicated, but on seeing a patient last week with a suspicious looking lesion on his soft palate I thought I would try adding a picture. If I am honest I was probably motivated to do so because of I was struggling to describe the lesion in words.

I took the picture on my phone, emailed it to my practice email, and popped it on the desktop. When I did the eReferral, I simply added the photo as an attachment.

Ok, so the attached photo was upside down (there is room for improvement next time) but it only added a few extra seconds to the referral process – it was far quicker to add an attachment from the desktop than it is from the PMS.

I spoke to the ENT surgeon who graded the referral and he found the image incredibly helpful – the patient is going to be seen within two weeks.

I can now delete the photo from my phone and the desktop as a copy is kept attached to the referral. This might be old news to some but my understanding is that not many photographs are being attached to referrals and there are many instances where they are incredibly helpful.

-Joe