A typical visit to FIRST will start a ten-step process:

  1. Our friendly staff at the front desk will receive you at your first appointment. We will record your personal data as well as initial records on your particular issue together with the assistants. You also have an option to record these online using a tablet PC.
  2. During the subsequent doctor’s consultation, your doctor will review the data and possibly add information at the end of the consultation to serve as a basis for outcome monitoring and quality control.
  3. The next step will be the classical process of compiling your medical history, and the examination. Further technical examinations may be necessary for diagnosis depending on the situation, which will usually take place at our centre except for major X-ray examinations and MRI.
  4. We will use the initial analysis and diagnosis towards a general therapeutic concept outlined by your doctor. As far as possible, we will give you any further details as available with the proposed therapy, which you can study at home at your leisure.
  5. After that, we will arrange for, and organise, ongoing examinations with the results available at your second appointment.
  6. At the end of this thirty-minute consultation, we will have a rough idea of your problem and suggest the most effective treatment options for you, including alternatives, in a general form.
  7. In addition to these treatment recommendations, our staff will give you further reading materials or links to online information at the end of the appointment.
  8. We will then arrange for the earliest possible next consultation appointment.
  9. At your next appointment, any remaining issues will be settled at the reception to complete your data records, and the initial information on treatment will be discussed, or our assistant will conduct an advanced briefing with you. If you have already decided on one method of treatment while you were at home, you can inform our assistant accordingly for her to make certain arrangements for consultation.

At the following doctor’s visit, the additional examinations carried out in the meantime will be analysed together and discussed with you. This will lead to a final diagnosis and a suitable treatment plan. Your doctor will check through all the information again with you and discuss the future course, which will culminate in you signing your informed consent as a properly briefed patient for the recommended treatment.