Family Attachment Scheme (FAS) 2023-2024 Handbook

Introduction

This booklet provides the information students need to participate in the FAS.

What will FAS help you achieve?

 Provide you with initial contact early in your course with a patient & family

 Reflect on how longterm illness impacts that patient & his/ her family

 Observe patients’ & families’ adaptations to longterm conditions

 A patient’s view of the positive attributes looked for in doctors and carers

 Gradually increasing confidence in listening to & talking with patients

 Observing the building of patient-doctor relationships through the patient

 Add to your learning from other aspects of HC2002/ GM1010

This opportunity to see illness from a patient perspective will stand you in good stead as you progress in your training toward becoming a doctor. Having a deep understanding of the patient perspective is a key component of becoming a patientcentred doctor.

Patient-centred doctors are more reflective, more effective communicators with better patient outcomes. They are safer practitioners, with less medical errors committed e.g. errors in diagnosis and/ or treatment.