Minor Illness: Assessment and Management

Learn about the ‘4 Rules of Consulting in Minor Illness’ which are there to help you practice protective medicine and to place patient safety at the heart of every consultation. We’ll show you not just how to examine patients with minor illnesses, but how to assess them systematically and holistically. You’ll learn how these patients can be managed as competently and safely as possible, adopting an approach that is both pragmatic and evidence-based.

Content will include:

• clinical assessment skills in minor illness
• the limitations of clinical assessment in early disease and the importance of safety-netting
• the assessment and adults, children and older patients
• the assessment and management of patients with upper and lower respiratory tract infections, cystitis, conjunctivitis, thrush, headaches, gastroenteritis, minor skin conditions, back pain, meningitis, fever of unknown origin
• diagnostic reasoning and clinical decision-making in minor illness
• safety-netting and referral in minor illness
• the use of antibiotics and analgesics in minor illness.

How you'll learn
You will have six online teaching sessions with protected time for structured self-study within those and one voluntary face to face skills session. Sessions are alternate weeks over 12 weeks, students are expected to enhance this by gaining clinical experience with patients with minor illnesses in their workplace or self-arranged placement with a clinical mentor.

Assessment
You’ll have a practice document which is completed with you mentor competencies that demonstrate your abilities in assessment on five patients each assessment, along with a logbook of the skills you've performed and the conditions you've encountered. As essay is required which has a PowerPoint presentation with notes, evidencing how you coped with a real-life consultation from beginning to end. Demonstrating that you are safe and are aware of the process of consultation in minor illness.