The physician's disease: The impact of medical knowledge on personal illness

Abstract

From a medical perspective, physician-patients need to be addressed like any other patient. Psychologically, however, these patients are unique, and the specific challenges their education and experience bring into the consultation room needs to be explicitly addressed.

Grenzen der Schmerztherapie

“…Eine vorsichtige stufenweise Aufklärung, die oft von beiden Seiten gewünscht wird, behindert informierte Entscheidungen [20]. Besonders schwierig und problematisch wird es, wenn Ärzte selber Patienten werden [76].…”

The physician as patient in palliative care: A retrospective case-note audit

“…1,3,4,7,8 Medical knowledge can be psychologically challenging: the rational understanding of the illness may be discordant with their emotions and behaviours. 3 Physician-patients may suffer from increased anxiety or fear 1,4 due to their awareness of adverse effects, complications and limitations of the treatments provided, 1 or due to the likely avoidance of psychosocial wellbeing discussions. 2 Behaviourally, the need to remain in control can translate into self-doctoring behaviours by accessing own test results, overly directing consultations or bypassing referral systems.…”

“…Caring for dying patients can be challenging; however, a dying physician may present unique challenges to palliative care teams. [1][2][3] Compounding factors such as involvement of multiple specialists, lack of a coordinating clinician, prolongation of curative treatments, resistance to palliative care input and barriers to discussing psychosocial needs may lead to suboptimal and late access to palliative care. 1,2,4 Physician-patients may also bypass standard access protocols to medical services which may compromise the ability of palliative care teams to maintain appropriate professional boundaries.…”

Encuentros difíciles en atención primaria: una perspectiva multifocal

“…Una dificultad a la hora de enfrentarnos con el estudio del PD es la amplia variabilidad de definiciones, inicialmente centradas en las sensaciones que el paciente produce en los médicos 8,9 . Estudios cuantitativos se han centrado en determinar la incidencia de PD o de ED en las consultas de facultativos, así como los perfiles de los pacientes calificados de PD y de los médicos que así los califican 10,11 .…”