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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

What does it say about a consultant...

16 replies

emkana · 08/03/2006 23:43

... when he has to read up in a textbook first before he starts giving you advice on the health of your fetus?

I had a repeat scan today because my baby has enlarged ventricles. We had a new consultant today, the old one has left. When he was talking to us he had his textbook open in front of him and he was quoting figures from there.

Having read up on things on the Internet I couldn't help feeling that maybe I knew as much as he did, or is that too arrogant of me?
It just didn't instil confidence.

The good news is that he has referred us to a speciallist fetal medicine unit, where they will hopefully know what they are talking about.

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LadySherlockofLGJ · 08/03/2006 23:45

I would rather he did that, than wing it.

soapbox · 08/03/2006 23:47

Well if it helps - I'm an accountant probably at pretty much the top of my profession and I rarely give advice without consulting loads of books - particularly in complex scenarios:)

I imagine medics are pretty much the same, but the consequences of getting it wrong are much much higher!

Sorry this is still going on for you - I hope you get an end to all the uncertainty soon, or at least a better understanding of what it going on:)

LadySherlockofLGJ · 08/03/2006 23:48

He possibly should have been better prepared, but I really do think it was incredibly honest of him.

Original poster

emkana · 08/03/2006 23:49

He said among other things that the prognosis would be that 60 % of babies with this problem would develop normally. In studies I looked up on the Internet I found that boys have a chance of 95 % to develop normally. A big difference!

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Original poster

emkana · 08/03/2006 23:49

And we know that it is a boy.

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Original poster

emkana · 09/03/2006 09:39

other opinions welcome

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Angeliz · 09/03/2006 09:41

I guess i would initaillt think he didn't know!. but then i'd agree with the others.
A G.P was going to prescribe something to my dd1 when she was a baby once, she looked it up and said "oh no it's for over 2's" I was very glad she'd looked it up!

Angeliz · 09/03/2006 09:42

But then i'd always do my own research too like you
Am very wary!

oops · 09/03/2006 09:43

i suppose the best thing is that he referred you.
It would have been very tough for you if the information had stopped there, with him reading his book.

It does look very unprofessional I must admit...but at least he was trying to give some hard facts vs what he could remember.

Hope it goes ok with the referral.
And btw, the internet doesn't always have all the answers, the study you saw may have been flawed in some way, or has been discounted or something... but def worth discussing at the next level up.

foxinsocks · 09/03/2006 09:45

I guess he referred you to the specialist so that was good! I guess as he's not a specialist in that area, he was having a brief look at the prognosis - not everything on the internet to do with health is right and there's quite a bit of misinformation.

I've never had a consultant do it only GPs (who do it all the time). To be honest, I wouldn't expect them to remember everything - all the dosages, exactly how long incubation periods are etc. etc.

Kelly1978 · 09/03/2006 09:48

I think is is probably a good thing. I've had too many consultants who are bullheaded and seem to think they are omnipotent. It shows that he is being careful about giving the right information. His training means that he knows where to get that too - his sources might be more reliable than the net. I think though the net does mean that ppl have a lot more acess to information nowadays and I don't have so much faith in professionals so I know how you feel. Good luck with the fetal unit.

CountessDracula · 09/03/2006 09:55

emkana if he is a new consultant then he probably will have to look things up! As junior doctors no longer work 69998 hour weeks it takes them a lot longer to gain all the knowledge. It is a real problem apparantly

Original poster

emkana · 09/03/2006 20:54

He didn't seem that young though, more middle-aged.

It is quite a rare thing, these enlarged ventricles, so probably couldn't expect him to know all the details. But shouldn't he read up beforehand, considering he knew he would see us that day?

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ruthlouise · 09/03/2006 21:28

If your consultant is like ours, very busy, double booked etc he probably didn't have time to look beforehand. I wish my consultant had taken the time to look up some info though. We've seen him a couple of times - one consultation after a scan was in the waiting area with lots of other pregnant ladies sitting around!!

I was lucky that when I did my degree a few years ago, I partly trained alongside medical imaging students and midwives so i was able to understand some of the stuff on the scan - I worked out that it was a sub-amnionic haemotoma. The SHO who was present said ' oh so you've had medical training have you, I see, hmm, yes you're right!'
I feel like our consultant hasn't come across a sub-amnionic bleed (rare) or a collapsed amnion (very rare) before. His comments are just 'it looks gloomy'. He's booked our next 3 appointments in the next 4 weeks already - can't help wondering if that is so he can gain a bit more knowledge on likely progression/ prognosis for if he comes across it again!!! Maybe I'm being harsh . Sorry. I still think the NHS is wonderful and the consultants do their best with limited time and resources. I guess we want them to have all the answers but sometimes they aren't there. And as your own research has shown textbooks don't always match with reality and can be inaccurate / outdated.

I have another scan a week Monday - I don't know whether its worth asking for a referal to a specialist fetal medicine unit in our case - I think very little will make a difference to what will be - I assume thats why ours hasn't mentioned it but might ask.

Good luck, hope all works out well for you and your little one emkana

eemie · 09/03/2006 21:37

First of all, sorry that your baby has enlarged ventricles - it's not my field but I know I would have been worried if I'd been told that about my baby. Glad you have been referred for a specialist opinion which is clearly the right thing to do.

I would not have been worried or put off by the consultant referring to textbooks, notes or papers. He cannot be expected to have all the statistics at the front of his mind for all the (up to 30 or more) people he will see in clinic in a session.

So long as he knows where to look for authoritative figures and makes sure he gets them for you, he's doing his job.

He obviously did read up beforehand, since he had the information on his desk. Did you want him to spend extra time memorising it as well?

He is in a position to judge the reliability of the statistics, though it is no surprise that they don't agree, since all the studies will have looked at different patients and entry criteria.

Hope it will turn out okay for you.

Original poster

emkana · 09/03/2006 22:59

I don't think he did read up beforehand - he left the room to fetch the book and then came back with it and sort of scanned it and then talked to us.

I don't blame him really, he's only human after all, it's just the uncertainty around all this that drives me mad.

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