Canadian family physician Médecin de famille canadien
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Primary care physicians are frequently required to treat patients with chronic debilitating pain. Opioid analgesics can successfully manage chronic pain. To prescribe opioid analgesics effectively, physicians must identify appropriate patients. Several methods can be used to identify and distinguish appropriate patients, addicted patients, and for-profit drug seekers.
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Clinical supervision activities are an important part of the education of future family physicians. In this article, the author describes clinical skills, teaching skills, and personal qualities that family physician-supervisors should acquire during their professional training.
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Comparative Study
Performance of the "house doctor". Effect of physician-to-patient ratio on follow up in long-term care facilities.
Do physicians with many patients in a long-term care facility provide more timely follow up of their drug orders than those with only a few? We reviewed 60 charts at random in three intermediate care facilities. Physician practices fell into two distinct groups. Those with more than 17 patients followed up sooner than those with fewer than six. We recommend a "house doctor" model of care for patients whose follow up is poor.