Safety netting: time to stop relying on verbal interventions?

‘Safety netting’ refers to a range of activities to manage clinical uncertainty during consultations. This can include uncertainty about diagnosis, how disease may progress or whether a treatment will work. It is frequently delivered along the lines of ‘come back and see me if this does not get better’ but can also include more specific advice and steps to monitor the patient through lists or codes in the patient record. The desired effect is for patients to seek medical attention again if needed and to be reassured if not.

Ten years of research on safety netting has shown that it’s used widely but applied inconsistently. When the approach is used, it often leaves out key details, such as how quickly symptoms might ease or return and what that might mean for the patient.