Do patients with unexplained physical symptoms pressurise general practitioners for somatic treatment?
OBJECTIVES: To identify the ways in which patients with medically unexplained symptoms present their problems and needs to general practitioners and to identify the forms of presentation that might lead general practitioners to feel pressurised to deliver somatic interventions. DESIGN: Qualitative analysis of audiorecorded consultations between patients and general practitioners. SETTING: 7 general practices in Merseyside, England. PARTICIPANTS: 36 patients selected consecutively from 21 general practices, in whom doctors considered that patients’ symptoms were medically unexplained. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Inductive qualitative analysis of ways in which patients presented their symptoms to general practitioners. RESULTS: Although 34 patients received somatic interventions (27 received drug prescriptions, 12 underwent investigations, and four were referred), only 10 requested them. However, patients presented in other ways that had the potential to pressurise general practitioners, incl
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