Tony Dowell and Felicity Goodyear-Smith

Screening, Case finding or not doing it all

This seminar will provide an up to date review of screening and case finding in general practice settings. The appropriate use of particular case finding and screening tools will be assessed with a focus on mental health and screening for lifestyle risk factors. A framework for the use of screening tools will be provided together with practical tips to ensure survival in the face of potential screening overload.  An interactive debate will help us resolve the dilemma “Screening, case finding or not doing it all”.
Intended audience: Suitable for GPs and practice nurses as well as practice managers and receptionists.  The CHAT can be completed in the waiting room and we will be working on patients using a touch screen which would need a receptionist to electronically activate.

Biography: Tony Dowell is a General Practitioner in Wellington and Professor of Primary Health Care and General Practice at the University of Otago ( Wellington). He has worked in general practice and primary care in New Zealand, the U.K. and Africa. His current research interests include mental health issues in primary care settings and exploration of interaction and communication patterns in health care consultations. He was a member of the Mental Health in General Practice Investigation (MaGPie) study group, led the evaluation of the Ministry of Health Primary Mental Health Initiatives and chaired the New Zealand Guidelines Group responsible for the production of the guideline “Identification of Common Mental Disorders and Management of Depression in Primary Care”. He has previously been involved in projects assessing screening and case finding in cardiovascular risk management, the early detection of bladder cancer and H Pylori detection. He is only dimly aware of his Blood Pressure, Cholesterol, PSA and PHQ-9 scores.

Biography: Felicity Goodyear-Smith is a GP in Auckland and Associate Professor in the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, The University of Auckland. She has worked in general practice and primary care in Wales, Jamaica and particularly in New Zealand. She has been the principal investigator in design, evaluation and validation of the CHAT (Case-finding and Help Assessment Tool) which identifies problems with smoking, drinking, other drugs, gambling, depression, anxiety, abuse, anger control and exercise. Her bias is therefore that mental health case-finding is a good thing. She does not know what her PHQ-9 score is but believes that it will be equal to or less than Professor Dowell’s. She considers her PSA level irrelevant.