Why Write a Referral? Did you know that physicians are now learning more about the oral cavity in order for them to protect their patients?
Referring to the Oral profession gains acceptance
A physician’s primary responsibility is to promote the best interests of his patient. Patients are dependent on physician’s expert, clinical knowledge, skills, and compassion. They must be confident that their physicians will make treatment recommendations in their best interest, based on objective clinical judgment and relevant guidelines.
When a physician agrees to provide treatment to a patient, he assumes an ethical obligation to treat that patient to the best of his ability. Physicians have an obligation to disclose to their patient appropriate treatment alternatives, and therefore all necessary information should be given to the patient to make an informed decision.
One good factor to consider is whether the need for a referral is appropriate or not, that is, whether there is a good reason for one health care provider to refer a patient to another.
This ability to know what is appropriate depends on the good practitioner’s education that must be regularly updated to reflect scientific breakthroughs and their clinical implications, both in medical schools and throughout the practitioners practicing career. This is to remain competent and up to date in all areas of their practice.
The American Family of Physician’s has started collaborating to integrate with Oral Physicians.
Their statement is as follows:
At the turn of the millennium, the U.S. Surgeon General declared dental disease a silent epidemic. Despite the decades-old tradition of separating oral and systemic health and hygiene, there are inseparable linkages. Oral health directly affects overall health and quality of life. A careful oral examination reveals information about numerous systemic conditions, from nutritional deficiencies to infections and cancer. Poor oral health has been associated with respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and diabetes mellitus. Training in oral health care varies among medical schools and residency programs
Contact Christine Taxin at ctaxin@links2success.biz to learn all about the medical world needing your skills.
· U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Oral health in America: a report of the Surgeon General. 2000. https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/access/NNBBJV.pdf. Accessed June 18, 2018.
· MARK B. STEPHENS, MD, MS, FAAFP, is a professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Penn State College of Medicine