scholarly journals Post-graduate education for medical specialists focused on patients with medically unexplained physical symptoms; development of a communication skills training programme

2013 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Weiland ◽  
Annette H. Blankenstein ◽  
Mariëtte H.A. Willems ◽  
Jan L.C.M. Van Saase ◽  
Henk T. Van der Molen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Education ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Training Programme ◽  
Physical Symptoms ◽  
Communication Skills Training ◽  
Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms ◽  
Medical Specialists ◽  
Medically Unexplained ◽  
Unexplained Physical Symptoms

Training Medical Specialists in Communication about Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms: Patient Outcomes from a Randomized Controlled Trial

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-60
Author(s):  
Anne Weiland ◽  
Annette H Blankenstein ◽  
Jan L Van Saase ◽  
Henk T Van der Molen ◽  
David Kosak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Patient Outcomes ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Physical Symptoms ◽  
Communication Training ◽  
Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms ◽  
Medical Specialists ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Medically Unexplained ◽  
Unexplained Physical Symptoms

Objectives: Medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS) burden patients in their well-being and functioning and have a prevalence of approximately 25-50% in primary and specialist care. Medical specialists often find patients with unexplained symptoms difficult to deal with, whereas patients are not always understood. We report effects on patient outcomes of an evidence-based MUPS-focused communication training for medical specialists.Methods: In a multi-center randomized controlled trial medical specialists and residents allocated to the intervention received a 14-hour MUPS-focused communication training. They practiced a patient-centered approach, including multi-factorial symptom exploration and explanation of MUPS with perpetuating factors. To study intervention effects, each doctor had to include three MUPS patients before and three after the intervention and to ask them to complete questionnaires at baseline and at 3 and 6 months follow-up. The questionnaires included illness worries (Whitely Index), symptom severity (Visual Analogue Scale), distress, depression, anxiety and somatization (4DSQ) and daily functioning (SF-36).Results: A sufficient number of 123 medical specialists and residents participated in the study. They included 478 MUPS patients. Out  of them, 297 patients filled out questionnaires at baseline, 165 patients at 3-months follow-up and 71 patients at 6-months follow-up. Recruitment of patients was lower than expected and patients’ non-response to baseline and follow-up questionnaires was higher than estimated. No significant effects were found on patient outcomes.Conclusions: It remains unclear whether medical specialist training results in better patient outcomes in MUPS as the trial was underpowered. New research with special attention to patient recruitment and retention is needed to answer this question.

scholarly journals Recognition of patients with medically unexplained physical symptoms by family physicians: results of a focus group study

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Madelon den Boeft ◽  
Danielle Huisman ◽  
Johannes C. van der Wouden ◽  
Mattijs E. Numans ◽  
Henriette E. van der Horst ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Family Physicians ◽  
Physical Symptoms ◽  
Focus Group Study ◽  
Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms ◽  
Medically Unexplained ◽  
Unexplained Physical Symptoms

Medically unexplained physical symptoms - a multidisciplinary approach

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S2) ◽  
pp. 1573-1573
Author(s):  
V. Pais ◽  
D. Correia ◽  
F. Ramalho e Silva
Keyword(s):  
Multidisciplinary Approach ◽  
Somatoform Disorders ◽  
Physical Symptoms ◽  
Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
Medline Search ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
Medically Unexplained ◽  
Unexplained Physical Symptoms

BackgroundMedically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS) can be defined as physical symptoms that have no currently known physical pathological cause. MUPS account for one in five new consultations in primary care and for one third of new patients when neurology consultations are considered.Patients with MUPS present significant distress and impaired function and their diagnosis is sometimes hard to establish. The classification of somatoform disorders has been found to be insufficiently useful for therapeutic and scientific purposes. Some authors suggest that new classifications should attend to clinical utility, defined as (1) the extent to which a diagnosis can help clinicians understand or conceptualize a disorder in their daily work; (2) the extent to which a diagnosis can help the clinician communicate useful information to others, including practitioners, family members, patients, and administrators; (3) the extent to which the presence of a disorder helps the clinician choose effective interventions, and (4) the extent to which a disorder can predict future clinical management needs.AimThis review aims to discuss the management of MUPS in mental health services, attending to the importance of a multidisciplinary approach.MethodsPubmed Medline search on MUPS and review of recent literature.DiscussionThe management of MUPS implies a multidisciplinary approach that can offer different solutions for different degrees of disorder severity and takes into account the perception of the patient about his own illness. New classifications of somatoform disorders that include comprehensible explanations about these symptoms could be helpful for patients and health professionals.

scholarly journals The Fish Can Sing by Halldór Laxness: Holding fast against vanity and illusion

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 428-430
Author(s):  
David S. Baldwin
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Alcohol Use Disorders ◽  
Nobel Laureate ◽  
Physical Symptoms ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms ◽  
Celebrity Suicide ◽  
Medically Unexplained ◽  
Adaptive Resilience ◽  
Unexplained Physical Symptoms

SummaryIn his early novels, the Icelandic Nobel laureate Halldór Laxness portrayed troubled individuals beset by familial, societal and economic challenges within an unpredictable and often unforgiving landscape; his later work addressed humanistic concerns regarding a well-lived life and the harmony of individual and environment. His 1957 novel The Fish Can Sing lies at the cusp of these preoccupations. Laxness contrasts the economic privations experienced by hard-pressed Icelanders with the ostentatious displays of their Danish colonial overloads; he also portrays individuals afflicted by psychosis, alcohol use disorders and medically unexplained physical symptoms, and delineates the path towards a ‘celebrity’ suicide. The novel warns against self-deceptive vanity and community-endorsed illusions, and celebrates the persistent benefits of nurturing relationships, all within a lyric contemplation of individual adaptive resilience and quotidian domestic pleasures.

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