Two Houses Consultation Guides

Compass on map

Two Houses guides can

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  • Help structure a consultation

  • Provide foundational knowledge for unfamiliar scenarios

  • Help to keep the doctor naturally patient centred 

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Two Houses Guides are a free resource that can be downloaded and shared, although they should not be altered prior to sharing. They are meant as an aid to consulting, but are not a substitute for approved national or local guidelines. The guides are only up to date at the time of writing

Two Houses Guides are 

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  • Designed to help trainees prepare for the CSA exam

  • Based on The GP Consultation Reimagined

  • Full of tips and tools to add to your toolbox

  • Practical, providing structure for the jobbing GP

 read more... 

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The Guides

Click on the images below to download each guide in a printable, shareable A4 PDF format 

Reading Map on Mobile

The Guide to the guides

Read this guide first as it will help to explain the layout of the guides, including what to look out for in both the House of Discovery and the House of Decision, where to find the Toolbox tips and so on

Managing the menopause

The menopause poses a particular challenge for trainees as it is rarely encountered in secondary care. What might matter to a woman with menopausal symptoms, what should the doctor cover? Do you need to do tests? What about HRT?

Image by Andre Hunter

The angry patient

How can we pop the angry bubble to diffuse tension early? How do we get beyond the anger to find out what really matters to the patient? How do we apologise without appearing defensive? How should we handle a formal complaint?

Stalks of Wheat

Coeliac disease

How should we tell someone that they have tested positive for the life-long condition of coeliac disease? What advice do we give them? How should we investigate it? How can we explain what coeliac disease is? When should they start to exclude gluten from their diet?

Image by Sharon McCutcheon

New onset type 2 diabetes

There is so much to cover with a new diagnosis of diabetes, how on earth do we fit it in? How do we explain it? What might the patient be thinking? Will they be expecting this? Will they be open to lifestyle change? 

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New onset atrial fibrillation

What do we do with new AF? Is the patient expecting it, or will it come as a surprise, or even a shock? Do we refer urgently, routinely or not at all? How do we balance rate control v rhythm control and what about anticoagulation?

DNA

Request for genetic testing

When someone asks for genetic tests it raises all sorts of questions - who is the test for? Why do they want it? Will a genetic test give them the answers they are looking for? If it's for a child, is it ethical? Can we remember our genetics?

Old Asian Man

A concerned relative

A common scenario is when someone raises concerns about a relative, be it an elderly family member or somone they live with. The scenario raises all sorts of challenges around issues of confidentiality that can be hard to negotiate.

When a new guide is created it will appear on this page and also be posted as a new BLOG POST. If you want to be notified when a new guide has been written, then simply follow the blog!