Although I have not been placed yet in a family practice, I can instead rely on last semester’s experience at an ENT clinic. The websites in our reading for this week include the NIH, which I’ve relied on quite frequently during my time in school and have found their information to be consistently reliable and evidence-based.
Their recommendations on information on allergic rhinitis, which was one of our frequent issues that patients had. The NIH links to an academic paper on clinical guidelines for allergic rhinitis with 14 points of information that physicians should keep in mind when assessing for allergic rhinitis.
However, I didn’t use or access these guidelines directly during my time at the clinic because I worked under such an incredibly knowledgeable physician. He used decades of experience to make decisions in almost no time at all. Also, he used an entirely paper-based system of charting and didn’t rely on electronic records or references. Instead, he drew from his 50+ years of experience in the field to make quick and accurate diagnosis.
As a result of those factors, digital guidelines were not a part of my practice or learning experience. Fortunately, he would take the time afterwards with me to discuss his decision-making process and break down how he arrived at his conclusions in a way that I could understand. I consider myself fortunate to have work with him and I gained a great deal of practical experience.
That being said, I am someone that relies on national guidelines and find electronic versions to be useful, so I look forward to using the NIH website and other online references during my next clinicals. In particular, I’ve found that many of these resources have mobile-friendly versions of their websites and I can use the information on the go.
My NP Experience 