Intern Reflection 2: R.G. 3/12/15

R.G. was a male in his 60s with a history of Hashimotoes. This Autoimmune disease had caused eye pain and bulging. R.G. had received surgery on his left eye which contributed to blurry double vision, scar tissue formation and restricted eye movement. His official diagnosis was Graves’ Opthamalopathy. When I first saw R.G. he had been coming to the AOMA clinic once a week or so for about 6 months. He had been receiving electrical stimulation on GB 1 at 20Hz for 15 minutes each treatment and reported left lateral muscle strength improvement. R.G. had a positive attitude toward his treatment and prognosis and the environment of the treatment room was light and friendly.

            I was glad to report in my SOAP notes his opinion of lateral muscle improvement and his overall feeling that the treatments were effective. On reflection of this case what I find interesting is the absence of any objective treatment outcome assessments. This is disappointing because R.G.’s is an interesting case that I would have appreciated having information about how well the electrical stimulation was work. It would have been useful to know for future treatments if the voltage was correct, if the length of time it was administered was enough etc. I feel in a case the best objective assessment tool would be photographic and video evidence. Not every patient is as positive and trusting towards alternative treatments and in a private clinic these tools could be beneficial to patient retention.