Same document, - http://www.jcpmh.info/good-services/medically-unexplained-symptoms/- page 9
Under – IMPACT ON CLINICIANS – General Practitioners- the authors say that “GPs also reported that they often find it stressful to work with patients with MUS” - reference number 30 - this study -
General practitioners' views on reattribution for patients with medically unexplained symptoms: a questionnaire and qualitative study.
Dowrick C, Gask L, Hughes JG, Charles-Jones H, Hogg JA, Peters S, Salmon P, Rogers AR, Morriss RK.
BMC Fam Pract. 2008 Aug 19;9:46.
So is that what the reference study says? – well kind of. In Table 1 of the Results we see that, of the total number of participating practitioners who were presented with various statements and asked to what extent they agreed/disagreed with them, 11% completely agreed and 61 % partly agreed with the statement ‘ I find that patients with PMUS often cause me considerable stress’, so 72% in total. So far so good. But what the authors of this Guidance for Commissioners fail to say is that the study also showed that:
· 19% (completely) and 54% (partly) - so 73% in total - agreed that they find that patients with PMUS presented them with interesting diagnostic challenges
· 26% (completely) and 57% (partly) – so 83% in total - agreed that they find that patients with PMUS presented then with interesting therapeutic challenges
· 21% (completely) and 44% (partly) – so 65% in total – DISGREED with the statement ‘I think patients with PMUS take up too much of my time, which I could use more productively with other patients’ …..
………NOT exactly the impression that was conveyed to the reader by the authors of the Guidance for Commissioners who presented a wholly negative picture of GPs attitudes towards these MUS patients.
Under – IMPACT ON CLINICIANS – General Practitioners- the authors say that “GPs also reported that they often find it stressful to work with patients with MUS” - reference number 30 - this study -
General practitioners' views on reattribution for patients with medically unexplained symptoms: a questionnaire and qualitative study.
Dowrick C, Gask L, Hughes JG, Charles-Jones H, Hogg JA, Peters S, Salmon P, Rogers AR, Morriss RK.
BMC Fam Pract. 2008 Aug 19;9:46.
So is that what the reference study says? – well kind of. In Table 1 of the Results we see that, of the total number of participating practitioners who were presented with various statements and asked to what extent they agreed/disagreed with them, 11% completely agreed and 61 % partly agreed with the statement ‘ I find that patients with PMUS often cause me considerable stress’, so 72% in total. So far so good. But what the authors of this Guidance for Commissioners fail to say is that the study also showed that:
· 19% (completely) and 54% (partly) - so 73% in total - agreed that they find that patients with PMUS presented them with interesting diagnostic challenges
· 26% (completely) and 57% (partly) – so 83% in total - agreed that they find that patients with PMUS presented then with interesting therapeutic challenges
· 21% (completely) and 44% (partly) – so 65% in total – DISGREED with the statement ‘I think patients with PMUS take up too much of my time, which I could use more productively with other patients’ …..
………NOT exactly the impression that was conveyed to the reader by the authors of the Guidance for Commissioners who presented a wholly negative picture of GPs attitudes towards these MUS patients.