‘Prisma helps me with situations not reflected in the guidelines’
Saskia Stitzinger is 45 and a GP in Hulst. She has a family with two children and a husband who also works in healthcare. According to her, digitisation is not a solution to all the problems coming our way, but it certainly offers added value. So does Prisma. Read on to find out how Saskia uses Prisma in daily practice.
‘We use more and more digitalisation in the practice, including online contact with our patients,’ says Saskia. ‘For example, I have a positive experience with Mijngezondheid.net. Through this tool, patients schedule appointments and submit e‑consults themselves. About half of these e‑consults we can handle digitally, the rest we still see at the practice. But surely it offers relief from the pressure on the consultation hour.’
Contact with the specialist
Digitisation is also helpful for quick and low-threshold contact with other healthcare providers. ‘For contact with other doctors and healthcare providers, we use Siilo,’ says Saskia. ‘With this, I have direct contact with the specialist if I want to discuss something about a patient known to him or her. Is the situation acute? Then of course I call. But otherwise Siilo is a pleasant communication tool.’
‘If I have a general question that does not belong to a patient already known to the hospital, or if I would like several people to think along, I use Prisma. I only use the regular teleconsult via Zorgdomein for referrals.’
Active on Prisma
‘I have been using Prisma for at least 2 – 3 years. When I first had access, I started scrolling through the previously submitted posts to see what I could use Prisma for. Soon I posted a case study myself.’
‘Lately, I have been using Prisma mainly actively when I have a question myself,’ Saskia explains. ‘For example, I take a quick look in the knowledge base when I have time to prepare for my consultation. Or I submit a case when I’m stuck with a question I can’t find the answer to.’
When is a case suitable for Prisma?
‘Prisma is very useful for a general question,’ finds Saskia. ‘This morning, for example, a woman asked me about repeat medication she had been prescribed by a dermatologist in the past, for a cold sore she had experienced previously. The question was whether she could take these medications again. After all, she had developed a cold sore again. Now I know that a cold sore is self-limiting and you basically don’t have to do anything about it. So why use this oral cure, I wondered. I decided to post the question on Prisma.’
‘Soon I received a reply. It turns out that the drugs only make sense when there are frequent recurrences. That afternoon, the patient comes to see me at the practice and I can immediately give her a good answer with the right substantiation. Namely that starting medication initially is not necessary.’
Situations outside the guideline
‘Prisma helps me to be able to quickly give patients an informed answer in situations that are not standard in the guidelines,’ Saskia explains. ‘Another case, for example, was that of a woman with atypical pain in her knees. I wasn’t sure what to do with this and placed the case in Prisma under the specialisms Rheumatology and Pain Medicine.’
‘That way I got answers back from different angles that I could proceed with. It also saved the patient many trips past different specialists, because without these answers I would have had to refer her to the hospital.’
Care shortages
‘I think Prisma can prevent a lot of unnecessary referrals this way. And since there are shortages of care everywhere, that is very nice. It also makes a difference for the patient. They don’t have to go to hospital and not be on a waiting list before they know more about what’s going on.’
‘I also tell my patients when I present their situation in Prisma,’ says Saskia. ‘I then indicate that several specialists can look on. That provides reassurance. Patients generally like the fact that, even if remotely, specialists have thought along.’
Prisma is currently only available for GPs, specialists and RGPOs that are based in the Netherlands.