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Views And Reviews Primary Colour

Helen Salisbury: Prolonging omicron

BMJ 2022; 376 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o191 (Published 25 January 2022) Cite this as: BMJ 2022;376:o191
  1. Helen Salisbury, GP
  1. Oxford
  1. helen.salisbury{at}phc.ox.ac.uk
    Follow Helen on Twitter: @HelenRSalisbury

Doctor, I’m feeling terrible again.

“Didn’t the tablets help?”

The thing is, I don’t really like taking tablets, and as I felt fine after the first couple, I didn’t bother taking the rest.

Variations of this conversation are played out regularly in GP surgeries and on hospital wards, where patients discharge themselves against medical advice. A course of treatment has been initiated after what we thought was a shared decision with the patient, who then abandons it as soon as it starts to work.

Sometimes the very fact that they’re feeling better is something the patient interprets as evidence that the …

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