Family Medicine Clinics
What exactly is družinska family medicine??
What exactly is družinska family medicine??
Family medicine is an academic and scientific discipline with its own educational content, research, evidence-based clinical practice, and clinical specialty focusing on primary health care
Who are family physicians?
Who are family physicians?
Family physicians are medical specialists trained in the fundamental principles of the profession. They are general practitioners who are primarily responsible for providing comprehensive and continuous healthcare to all individuals seeking medical assistance, regardless of age, gender, or condition. They care for individuals within the families, communities, and their cultural communities while always respecting the independence of their patients.
Who are family physicians?
They also recognise their professional responsibility towards the community. In working out the condition management or control plan with their patients, they take into account the mental, psychological, social, cultural, and existential factors, using the knowledge and trust gained through repeated patient-doctor contact. Family doctors carry out their professional role by promoting health, preventing disease, and providing treatment and palliative care. They carry out the mentioned activities either directly or via other activities or services, depending on the health-related needs and available resources in the community that they care for. Also, if required, they also assists patients in accessing these services. The doctors must assume responsibility for developing and maintaining their skills, personal balance, and values as the basis for providing effective and safe medical care to patients.
Based on the European definition of general practice/family medicine (editors Janko Kersnik and Igor Švab), Ljubljana, Slovenian Family Medicine Society – Slovenian Medical Association, 2004.
Povzeto po EVROPSKA definicija družinske medicine (urednika Janko Kersnik in Igor Švab), Ljubljana, Združenje zdravnikov družinske medicine - SZD, 2004.
When to visit the family medicine clinic?
When to visit the family medicine clinic?
When seeking medical assistance, regardless of age, gender, or condition.
Waiting times
Waiting times
In order to reduce the daily waiting times, we kindly ask you to:
• All scheduled patients have priority over those without appointments, regardless of the arrival time! This excludes patients with EMERGENCY conditions
• Bring your health insurance card to your appointment
• If you have an acute condition, arrive as early as possible at the beginning of the work day
Waiting times
• Order referrals in a timely manner (not the day before the examination or even the day of the examination)
• Prepare for your doctor's appointment – arrive with your health insurance card (make a note of your medications, issues, blood pressure and body temperature measurements, etc.)
• Communicate with the doctors via telephone at the end of the working day since phone conversations disrupt the clinic workflow; you may receive any required information and instructions from the nurse; in case of emergencies and crises, you will be immediately transferred to a doctor
• Order prescriptions from the nurse by calling in or submitting your health insurance card along with the detailed medicines list including the specified daily dosage and administration method (in case of long-term therapies); pick up your prescriptions the following day; when new medications are prescribed by specialists, a medical report is needed on the basis of which they can be prescribed to you by your GP
• Every antibiotic treatment requires a thorough examination and laboratory testing
• Please call ahead to schedule your appointment or instead inform the nurse (not the doctor) during your last visit whether you will be requiring a short or long consultation with the doctor (shorter or longer than 15 minutes)
A large segment of patients are elderly people who have difficulty moving, communicating, and memorising. In case of the elderly with the above issues, it is desirable that are accompanied by a family member, friend, neighbour, etc., in order to facilitate communication and cooperation. This will make the doctor’s efforts easier and also help avoid incorrect medication, expired prescriptions, ambiguities, etc.
When visiting your chosen doctor, prepare yourself for the examination. Please bring copies of the specialist exams that we can keep. If you require medication, jot it down on a piece of paper along with any potential questions that you may have for your doctor. Please note that there is a 15 minute per patient limit. We aim to accommodate and assist to the greatest extent possible: all for the good of the patient. If you do not have a general physician selected with us, you can opt for a self-pay examination, which will take place after office hours. The basic price is €20. Those with European health insurance are also welcome to visit us.
At our family clinics, we also offer vaccinations. Some vaccination is covered by insurance, while others must be paid for out-of-pocket. We vaccinate against tetanus, hepatitis A and B, tick-borne meningoencephalitis, influenza, and pneumococcal infections. Make an appointment in advance with your GP’s nurse to ensure that the vaccine is procured and to entrust you with the necessary instructions. If you have ever suffered from a hypersensitivity or allergic reaction to any vaccine, please let your doctor or nurse know. Bring your immunisation card to your vaccination appointment so that we are able to record the vaccinations administered. If you do not possess one, it will be issued to you at the family medicine clinic.
If you require a change of your wound dressing or stitches removed, resulting either from injury or surgery, you can visit your chosen GP's clinic during working hours every work day. Elderly patients who are unable to visit, are frail, require blood pressure or blood sugar levels monitoring, are in need of assessment of their general condition, or as suffering from an injury that requires re-dressing, arrange a visit with the community nurse in your area after consulting with your GP.
Please make an appointment with the specialist referred to by your chosen GP in good time in order to avoid submitting expired referrals. At the patient's request and subject to a fee, medical forms such as applications for nursing homes and medical certificates may also be completed. In order to be issues a medical certificate, an appointment is required.
After the age of 30, general physicians will also refer patients to the reference clinic, where they may speak to a registered nurse about their lifestyle, habits, possible therapies, have their vital signs measured, undergo lab testing, electrocardiograms, etc. At the end, the patient's risk assessment is calculated and, if required, the patient is referred to the GP for further examination or, in the case of more serious issues, a specialist.
We collaborate for the well-being of the patient, to provide as much assistance as possible so that all participants are satisfied. This is our goal and vision. Every two years based on prior arrangement with their GP, men over the age of 50 are eligible for a PSA test. For the lab, it is necessary to make an appointment with your GP in advance in order to discuss any potential issues. Based on the consultation, a decision will be made regarding the details of the blood, urine, and possibly stool test. The laboratory order is completed by the GP.
In case you have scheduled surgery, make a check-up appointment. Your GP must review and sign the documentation which is required for treatment by the anaesthesiologist and surgeon. Depending on the scheduled procedure and your age, you will be referred for a chest X-ray as well as a blood test, which must be performed on an empty stomach and must not have been completed more than seven days ago. An electrocardiogram must be recorded. Remember to bring with you all the necessary documentation. Please arrive on time so that the necessary examinations can be performed, avoiding unnecessary concerns and surgery date postponement. If you do not possess a valid referral for the procedure and anaesthesia exam, you must obtain a new referral.
Patients who are scheduled for regular check-ups, e.g. at the institute of oncology, with an ophthalmologist due to diabetic retinopathy, a diabetologist, dermatologist, surgeon, etc., can simply call to and mention your expired referral to receive a new, valid referral from your GP. This way, you avoid lines and waiting. The nurse will let you know when your referral is ready for pick up.
If you fall ill and have opted not to leave your home, in general, you must provide notice of this on the same day. You will receive instructions on how to proceed by phone. Sick leave can only be backdated in exceptional cases for a maximum period of 3 days. For this reason, it is necessary to notify your GP of your absence from work on the day of the absence. If you have attended a special examination and require a sick note, please bring the results with so that we may also be provided proof. Please also bring the results if you were accompanying a child, partner, or parent. Patients who have been on sick leave for an extended period and have had your sick leave extended on the basis of a decision by the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (ZZZS) should make sure to book an appointment with your GP a week before the expiry of your sick leave. If you are in possession of any new test results, please make copies of them and also deliver them to us so that they can be attached to the documentation. Furthermore, you should also sign up for the invalidity commission, which is arranged in consultation with your GP.
At the family medicine clinic, we also do house calls, which are planned or arranged by agreement. House calls are intended for individuals who are incapacitated, have mobility-related issues and therefore cannot visit us at the clinic. They are conducted out at the end of the work day and on specific days only. To make things easier, adhere to your GP's working hours since they know you best and can dedicate to you their full attention. If your general physician is on-duty, do not visit the emergency room since this will interfere with their work and prevent them from helping those with the most urgent cases.
The doctor’s and nurses effort, however, requires the patient’s respect. Together, we will find the right solution and path. What counts is the individual approach to each and every patient and confidence in the doctor and nurse. We always strive to provide the best for everyone.
What is a reference clinic?
What is a reference clinic?
A reference clinic is the name given to a family medicine clinic with an extended team of healthcare professionals; alongside the doctor and nurse, patients at a reference clinic will provided care by a registered nurse. The registered nurse assume responsibility over the monitoring of parameters of specific chronic diseases as well as preventive activities.
My doctor has a reference clinic. What does this mean for me, the patient?
My doctor has a reference clinic. What does this mean for me, the patient?
At the reference clinic, a registered nurse will advise all patients on preventive measures which are potentially required. Using questionnaires, the nurse will offer advice on risk factors such as alcohol, smoking, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and depression. This means that you will partake in active screening for specific chronic disease types while patients will also receive a comprehensive health education.
My doctor has a reference clinic. what does this mean for me, the patient?
If you are a chronic patient with a controlled condition such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or diabetes, your condition will be monitored by a registered nurse. Once the protocols have been prepared, the nurse will also be able to monitor heart patients, patients with back pain as well as certain rheumatology and oncology patients. As less serious cases will be handled by trained members of the team at the individual referral clinics, doctors will have more time to examine you and talk to you, the patient, when you are ill or are facing issues. The reference outpatient clinic team members will also take care of you in a dispensary care manner, constituting a more comprehensive approach to patient care.
Source: Ministry of Health of the RS
Division of work at the reference clinic
Division of work at the reference clinic
Activities are divided into preventive and curative measures.
Preventive measures encompass all persons over the age of 30 without chronic diseases. Such persons are invited to undergo preventive screening for chronic, non-communicable diseases every 5 years. Even if, as part of your regular periodic employment-related medical exam, you have already undergone a preventive examination at the occupational and sports medicine clinic, you are still welcome to visit the reference outpatient clinic.
As part of the curative measures, patients suffering from one or more of the following chronic diseases are treated: arterial hypertension, diabetes, asthma, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), benign prostatic hyperplasia, depression, coronary heart disease, and osteoporosis.
Division of work at the reference clinic
You may be invited to visit a registered nurse by means of a written invitation, via referred by your personal physician, or instead, you can simply call the reference outpatient clinic to make an appointment with the a registered nurse who collaborates with your personal physician.
The objectives of reference outpatient clinics is to help you in determining whether you are exposed to any risk factors, how to eliminate them, as well as to keep you informed about non-communicable chronic diseases with the help of the nurse. If you are more susceptible to a specific disease, you will cooperate to develop a plan to improve your health.
If your visiting for a regular check-up and you are suffering from a chronic condition such as asthma, arterial hypertension, or any other condition mentioned above, the nurse will carry out additional examinations. If values significantly from the normal ranges, your doctor may refer you for additional testing or consultation.
The goal of the nurse at the reference outpatient clinic is to inform you, and help you understand that smoking can lead to COPD, and that being overweight can lead to cardiovascular disease, and to also provide you more detailed information. At the same time, the nurse will offers you the opportunity to participate in free weight-loss and smoking cessation programmes, etc., which are conducted at health education centres in health care institutions throughout Slovenia.
We invite you to respond to the reference outpatient clinic check-up invitation as regular preventive check-ups allow us to identify changes in health more efficiently, which in turn can be remedied in a timely manner with the appropriate treatment, resulting in improved health.