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Minor Illness: Managing Common and Not-So-Common Conditions

Module description

Healthcare providers working in their communities, whether in GP practices, pharmacies or urgent care settings, frequently treat patients who self-present with what can be described as minor illnesses.

Ensuring that healthcare professionals are adequately trained in this area is important so that serious disease requiring onward referral and self-limiting conditions can be identified and appropriately managed, while delivering an accessible and effective service for patients.

This taught module will give you a foundation in assessing patients in a systematic way including practical examination skills, along with access to e-learning material. Experienced primary care practitioners will deliver the teaching along with local specialists as required. By the end of this module you will be confident in diagnosing and managing a range of conditions whilst having an awareness of potentially significant disease that may need onward referral.

This module is suitable for healthcare professionals that wish to develop their skills in assessing and managing a range of acute conditions that commonly present in primary care, whether they are working in GP practices as clinical pharmacists, nurses or paramedics, or urgent care settings such as Minor Injury Unit or Out-of-hours GP services.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will encourage you to develop the skills to assess patients with acute symptoms. This practical approach will be underpinned with evidence-based theory. Practical examination skills will be taught and practised, as well as an introduction to clinical signs that are seen in primary care practice. Communication skills techniques for handover information, negotiation and developing shared management plans will be integrated into the learning activities.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Undertake comprehensive clinical assessment of patients presenting with acute symptoms in primary and urgent care settings
• 2. Develop advanced clinical reasoning techniques to generate differential diagnoses and management plans

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Make safe management plans (including seeking a second opinion) using own insight into personal competence and experience
• 4. Apply knowledge and skills to clinical assessment of patients as an independent practitioner

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Communicate clinical diagnoses and management plans effectively, both written and verbally
• 6. Develop critical thinking skills to apply evidence based guidelines to patient care

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, an example of an overall structure is as follows:

• Respiratory and cardiac illness
• ENT
• Ophthalmology
• Skin disease
• Musculoskeletal conditions
• Identification of sepsis
• Detection and management of red flags

Whilst we anticipate delivering the teaching in person, to ensure flexibility and resilience over the coming academic year, the following changes may be made to the module if needed:

• Face-to-face scheduled lectures may be replaced by short pre-recorded videos for each topic (15-20 minutes) and/or brief overview lectures delivered via MS Teams/Zoom, with learning consolidated by self-directed learning resources and ELE activities.
• Small-group discussion in tutorials and seminars may be replaced by synchronous group discussion on Teams/ Zoom; or asynchronous online discussion, for example via Yammer or ELE Discussion board.
• Workshops involving face-to-face classroom teaching may be replaced by synchronous sessions on Teams/Zoom; or Asynchronous workshop activities supported with discussion forum.
• Skills workshops involving practical skills acquisition demonstrations may be replaced by short pre-recorded videos as pre-learning; or workshop via Teams/Zoom.
• Written examinations (e.g. timed, invigilated, closed-book formal exam) may be replaced by an online equivalent (e.g. timed, non-invigilated, open-book, online exam).

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Please refer to the TQA section on Referral/Deferral: http://as.exeter.ac.uk/academic-policy-standards/tqa-manual/aph/consequenceoffailure/

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

Relevant sections of:-

Minor Illness or Major Disease 6^th edition Paperback – 15 July 2016 by Brian Addison

Symptom Sorter, 6th Edition Paperback -,14 May 2020  by Keith Hopcroft (Author),‎ Vincent Forte (Author)

Oxford Handbook of General Practice 5^th Edition  By S.Chantal et al. (Oxford Medical Handbooks) June 2020

Macleod's Clinical Examination, 14e Paperback – 11 Jun. 2018 by J. Alastair Innes

Journals

Freitag, A., Constanti, M., O'Flynn, N. and Faust, S.N., 2016. Suspected sepsis: summary of NICE guidance. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 354.

Other resources:

Nice (2017) Suspected cancer: recognition and referral https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng12

Nice (2021) Guidance on use of antimicrobials: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/conditions-and-diseases/infections

Devon formulary and referral website: https://devonformularyguidance.nhs.uk/

Key words search

Clinical pharmacy / acute presentations / minor ailments / minor illness