Five years of heartsink patients in general practice. |
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Authors: | T. C. O'Dowd |
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Affiliation: | Department of General Practice, University of Nottingham Medical School, Queen''s Medical Centre. |
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Abstract: | "Heartsink" patients exasperate, defeat, and overwhelm their doctors by their behaviour. A group of such patients was followed up over five years in a general practice, and this paper describes what happened to them. As a group they were often in employment and in stable relationships, though women were over represented. Half the group were subjected to a management plan which seemed to make them less heartsink over the five year period. While heartsink patients often have serious medical problems, they are a disparate group of individuals whose only common thread seems to be the distress they cause their doctor and the practice. Heartsink as a phenomenon has features that are unique to general practice. |
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