[cat-lover]

Hello everyone

I've been shadowing a neurologist and I was wondering how much of what I've seen I'm allowed to talk about..by talk about I mean briefly in my personal statement or interview (hopefully if I get to that point). I know I'm not allowed to talk about names of patients and things like that but am I allowed to talk about a particular case that stood out? I think this question is making me sound pretty ignorant but I'm really unsure what doctor-patient confidentiality really includes.

[Helenia]

http://www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/ethic...dentiality.asp

In general, you can talk about cases you saw, as long as you don't say anything so specific that the patient will be easily identifiable. Often there is no need to go into lots of technical detail (as this will only give you opportunities to trip up) but you can give general information to relate a scenario to a question e.g. "I saw a patient who was very frightened about having surgery and the doctor reassured her by doing x, y, or z."

[cat-lover]

(Original post by Helenia)
http://www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/ethic...dentiality.asp

In general, you can talk about cases you saw, as long as you don't say anything so specific that the patient will be easily identifiable. Often there is no need to go into lots of technical detail (as this will only give you opportunities to trip up) but you can give general information to relate a scenario to a question e.g. "I saw a patient who was very frightened about having surgery and the doctor reassured her by doing x, y, or z."

Thanks.

I'm trying to explain what I learnt from shadowing the neurologist but I'm still unsure how much of a particular case I'm allowed to talk about. This particular case really stood out and showed me being a doctor can be very difficult sometimes. I'm wondering if I should just explain that being a doctor can be difficult for so and so reason or actually back it up with this particular case. Unfortunately what happened to him is fairly rare. Should I refrain from mentioning this case at all? What about during an interview? I really want to mention it because it had a lot of impact on me and was a real eye opener but I'm still worried about all the confidentiality issues. :/

[Caponester]

(Original post by cat-lover)
Thanks.

I'm trying to explain what I learnt from shadowing the neurologist but I'm still unsure how much of a particular case I'm allowed to talk about. This particular case really stood out and showed me being a doctor can be very difficult sometimes. I'm wondering if I should just explain that being a doctor can be difficult for so and so reason or actually back it up with this particular case. Unfortunately what happened to him is fairly rare. Should I refrain from mentioning this case at all? What about during an interview? I really want to mention it because it had a lot of impact on me and was a real eye opener but I'm still worried about all the confidentiality issues. :/

Doubt you will be able to spare the characters in a personal statement if you wanted to talk in depth about a particular case. Be general in your statement then elaborate during your interview if the opportunity arises.

[cat-lover]

(Original post by Caponester)
Doubt you will be able to spare the characters in a personal statement if you wanted to talk in depth about a particular case. Be general in your statement then elaborate during your interview if the opportunity arises.

Thanks.
It's about two sentences but I probably won't include it if I hit the character limit too soon. The only thing I'm worried about is that his case is kind of rare so I'd imagine that makes it really specific to him. Would I be allowed to mention his case (or any other patient's) during an interview? I really have no idea what I can and can't mention.

[nexttime]

(Original post by cat-lover)
Thanks.
It's about two sentences but I probably won't include it if I hit the character limit too soon. The only thing I'm worried about is that his case is kind of rare so I'd imagine that makes it really specific to him. Would I be allowed to mention his case (or any other patient's) during an interview? I really have no idea what I can and can't mention.

It doesn't matter - you are still not giving any hint of who he is. Mention it if you want.

[hoonosewot]

(Original post by cat-lover)
Thanks.
It's about two sentences but I probably won't include it if I hit the character limit too soon. The only thing I'm worried about is that his case is kind of rare so I'd imagine that makes it really specific to him. Would I be allowed to mention his case (or any other patient's) during an interview? I really have no idea what I can and can't mention.

Short of the guy being literally the only person in the country to have this condition, i very very much doubt you'll be breaking his confidentiality, even then you wouldn't really be unless you say his name.

Mention the case broadly and how it made you realise being a doc is difficult, there's no need to get into the nitty gritty details.

[cat-lover]

(Original post by hoonosewot)
Short of the guy being literally the only person in the country to have this condition, i very very much doubt you'll be breaking his confidentiality, even then you wouldn't really be unless you say his name.

Mention the case broadly and how it made you realise being a doc is difficult, there's no need to get into the nitty gritty details.

Thank you!

[Elwyn]

If you submit your finished PS to the PS review service one of us will be able to advise you as to whether what you've written is acceptable or breaches confidentiality.
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki...tement_Library

[xXxBaby-BooxXx]

(Original post by nexttime)
It doesn't matter - you are still not giving any hint of who he is. Mention it if you want.

That's not necessarily true. Say there are 10 people in the country who have this case, and only one of them lives in Yorkshire and she says that in a Yorkshire hospital she saw a patient with this condition, that could potentially break confidentiality as its unlikely to be any of the other 9.

OP you could always change the gender to help a bit, and make sure you don't mention locations and you should be alright.

[nexttime]

(Original post by xXxBaby-BooxXx)
That's not necessarily true. Say there are 10 people in the country who have this case, and only one of them lives in Yorkshire and she says that in a Yorkshire hospital she saw a patient with this condition, that could potentially break confidentiality as its unlikely to be any of the other 9.

Still irrelevant. You have not identified him.

How are you going to know mr X has rare disease Y when you see him in the street? You can't. You may know which case study he is AFTER he personally tells you he has a rare disease, but that is not breaking confidentiality! You have not breached his privacy in any way.

Students and doctors and the general public ARE allowed to talk about rare diseases you know - its not censored information

[laura1234]

You can talk about what you want really as long as you don't give away their name or any personal information which may give away who that person is, or mention anything a patient has told you in confidence. As a rule of thumb as long as you don't mention names you should be fine, especially as it's for purposes of a personal statement. If you wanted to be extra safe you could avoid mentioning gender as well and just say things like 'the patient' 'individual' etc but that is pretty over the top so may not be needed.

[Hopple]

(Original post by nexttime)
Still irrelevant. You have not identified him.

How are you going to know mr X has rare disease Y when you see him in the street? You can't. You may know which case study he is AFTER he personally tells you he has a rare disease, but that is not breaking confidentiality! You have not breached his privacy in any way.

Students and doctors and the general public ARE allowed to talk about rare diseases you know - its not censored information

It depends what else in the anecdote I suppose. If you were to say "The person with Y also has Z", and Mr X tells someone else that he has Y, then that someone else could infer that Mr X also has Z from what you've said, again depending on how rare Y is (in that region etc).

[nexttime]

(Original post by Hopple)
It depends what else in the anecdote I suppose. If you were to say "The person with Y also has Z", and Mr X tells someone else that he has Y, then that someone else could infer that Mr X also has Z from what you've said, again depending on how rare Y is (in that region etc).

That would be in the case study though - by revealing Y he has also revealed Z via a source other than you.

I had assumed but now doubt myself that if a genuinely super rare pathology presented itself, the patient wouldn't be able to deny the publishing of the case study (in confidentiality). I think that is true though. And in any case, if he is that sensitive he presumably won't reveal Y in the first place.

[Hopple]

(Original post by nexttime)
That would be in the case study though - by revealing Y he has also revealed Z via a source other than you.

I had assumed but now doubt myself that if a genuinely super rare pathology presented itself, the patient wouldn't be able to deny the publishing of the case study (in confidentiality). I think that is true though. And in any case, if he is that sensitive he presumably won't reveal Y in the first place.

Well, say Y is rare, and Z is common and embarrassing. Say the whole world knows he's the only one with Y in whatever region he lives, then you, having only had experience in that region, say you met a patient who had Y and Z, you've just ratted him out.

[nexttime]

(Original post by Hopple)
Well, say Y is rare, and Z is common and embarrassing. Say the whole world knows he's the only one with Y in whatever region he lives, then you, having only had experience in that region, say you met a patient who had Y and Z, you've just ratted him out.

That would only be valid if everyone in that region knew for certain he was the only case. If we start considering small communities, i suppose that could be a reasonable assumption for them to make. You then have to consider though that it would be very uncommon for him to be attending a local hospital. Especially with rare conditions, where expertise will be hard to find, you're going to be attending a big centre, with a big catchment area. Plus we're assuming a concurrent condition. And the whole scenario is just highly unlikely anyway. You're getting into (and way past, tbh) the likelihood that even a common condition seen in a community actually happens to be the only case in the entire town, in which case we can never reveal any concurrent conditions ever for fear they'll be linked, as well as no treatments, tests, anything, meaning no patient can ever be discussed with anyone not involved in the care of the patient even when no names are mentioned. That is definitely not the current scope of confidentiality in the UK. Far, far bigger problems exist than mentioning isolated rare cases in personal statements read by a handful of people. Really don't think that is worth worrying about.

[cat-lover]

Thanks everyone.

[Meltingice]

(Original post by cat-lover)
Thanks.
It's about two sentences but I probably won't include it if I hit the character limit too soon. The only thing I'm worried about is that his case is kind of rare so I'd imagine that makes it really specific to him. Would I be allowed to mention his case (or any other patient's) during an interview? I really have no idea what I can and can't mention.

I shadowed a neurologist and saw sth rare too

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-I9300

[cat-lover]

(Original post by Meltingice)
I shadowed a neurologist and saw sth rare too

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-I9300

Yay

Are you planning to talk about it in an interview?

[Dmon1Unlimited]

I'm no expert, but I think you can talk about anything as long as it in no way can be traced back to a person