1. Sign our petition calling on Cochrane to withdraw their review of Exercise Therapy for CFS here.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Guest, the 'News in Brief' for the week beginning 18th March 2024 is here.
    Dismiss Notice
  3. Welcome! To read the Core Purpose and Values of our forum, click here.
    Dismiss Notice

The careful assessment tool for managing patients with [MUS] – The experience of Slovenian family medicine trainees.., 2022, Ivetić et al

Discussion in 'Other psychosomatic news and research' started by Andy, Feb 4, 2022.

  1. Andy

    Andy Committee Member

    Messages:
    21,810
    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
    Full title: The careful assessment tool for managing patients with medically unexplained symptoms – The experience of Slovenian family medicine trainees: A qualitative study

    Introduction: Primary care physicians use various tools and methods to identify medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). The main purpose of our study is to determine the views of Slovenian family medicine trainees (FMT) about using the “Careful Assessment” tool for managing patients with MUS.

    Methods: A qualitative study using open survey questions focused on the experience of family medicine trainees in managing patients with MUS. The sample consisted of surveys from 184 family medicine trainees. These trainees analysed a total of 702 patients with MUS. Manual coding was used for quantitative content analysis.

    Results: In the coding process, 49 codes were developed that included broader research fields about using the “Careful Assessment” tool for managing patients with MUS. The codes were grouped into four theoretically grounded, logical categories in accordance with the elaborated theoretical concept: multi-purpose utility; improved patient management; in-depth knowledge and new skills; and patient response.

    Conclusion: The study demonstrated that, in the view of Slovenian FMT, the “Careful Assessment” tool has multi-purpose utility. The study showed that FMT felt that this tool helps them in systematic patient management. Their opinion is that it helps them establish a trusting relationship with patients, which is a precondition for providing further treatment.

    Open access, https://www.sciendo.com/article/10.2478/sjph-2022-0008
     
    Kitty, Hutan, DokaGirl and 1 other person like this.
  2. Hutan

    Hutan Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    26,525
    Location:
    Aotearoa New Zealand
    I seem to be feeling very flippant this morning - I think it's the result of reading too many BPS papers.

    Here's the first paragraph of the paper:
    So, they say that MUS are symptoms that cannot be entirely accounted for by a known somatic disease. They then go on to say that primary care physicians face a challenge in how to identify MUS. But how can that be? Surely, with a diagnosis of exclusion, you diagnose the somatic (biological) conditions that your training, time and interest allow you to, and whatever symptoms that are left over are MUS? It seems, by definition, to be the very opposite of challenging. If you aren't a very good doctor, or need to get through a lot of patients to get your daily tally up, the MUS pile will be bigger.

    By the way, for those of you like me a bit hazy about Slovenia and Slovakia - Slovenia is the country on the Mediterranean (Slovakia is nearby but further away from the sea). There's an entertaining note about that here:
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43419675
    I'm going to go prune a tree I think, before reading more about how 184 family medicine trainees were taught that applying MUS labels to their patients helps establish a trusting relationship with them.
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2022
    chrisb, Sean, Midnattsol and 10 others like this.
  3. Hutan

    Hutan Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    26,525
    Location:
    Aotearoa New Zealand
    So, medical trainee, what do you think about this Careful Assessment tool? Is it, perhaps, careful? Yes?Ah, you liked it? Super, an A grade for you.


    So, in this MUS module, have a go at diagnosing these patients. Here's a clue - they all have MUS. You decided that they have MUS? Well done. You pass this course.

    mandatory, yay
     
    chrisb, Sean, Midnattsol and 8 others like this.
  4. Hutan

    Hutan Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    26,525
    Location:
    Aotearoa New Zealand
    The trainees reported the tool was great. There's a passing mention that the patients weren't all as pleased.
    The certainty that the patients loved it is rather undermined by some of the quotes from the trainees:
    For all the talk of taking the time to listen to the patient, there seems to be quite a lot of dismissing what they say.

    It feels as though MUS is a malignancy that is spreading largely unchecked.
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2022
    Wyva, chrisb, Sean and 11 others like this.
  5. Hutan

    Hutan Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    26,525
    Location:
    Aotearoa New Zealand
    *I kept reading FMT as Fecal Matter Transplants.
    (I'm clearly not in an appropriate mood for serious discussion of science. I really will step away this time.)
     
    chrisb, Trish, Peter Trewhitt and 4 others like this.
  6. Kitty

    Kitty Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    5,051
    Location:
    UK
    Oh, don't worry, it's not a serious discussion of science! Or at least, not a discussion of serious science.

    I think I'll recommend the Slapdash Assessment Tool to young doctors if I ever visit the area, as it's more fun and you don't have to write essays—you simply employ the time-honoured principles of John's weather stone.



    Stone.jpg
     
    Hutan, shak8, chrisb and 9 others like this.
  7. Sean

    Sean Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    7,044
    Location:
    Australia
    That would be because it is, in all its guises.

    MUS, FND, PPS, QZF, whatever one they are hiding behind this month.

    Ambush by acronym.
     
    Hutan, rvallee, shak8 and 4 others like this.

Share This Page