Authors: Lesho, Emil P.¹; Udvari-Nagy, Szilvia²; László, Rókusz³; Saullo, Louise⁴; Rink, Thomas⁵

Source: Military Medicine, Volume 171, Number 8, August 2006 , pp. 774-777(4)

Publisher: AMSUS - Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

Abstract:

Health care workers' perceptions of patient suffering have not been well studied. Patients and health care workers were invited to answer a single, open-ended question. To develop a survey tool that could be validated and used for future research, what health care workers thought causes or caused the most suffering for patients was compared with what patients actually identified as the cause of their worst suffering. Health care workers underestimated loss and significantly underestimated physical nonpainful symptoms as causes of maximal suffering. Communication, emotional, and systems issues were often overestimated by health care workers. Health care workers may not accurately perceive what causes the worst suffering for patients. More studies are needed.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Medicine, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC 20307. 2: Department of Internal Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Weston, FL 33331. 3: Department of Internal Medicine, Central Military Hospital, Budapest, Hungary H-1131. 4: Department of Nursing, Greater Hazleton Health Alliance, Hazleton, PA 18201. 5: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Municipal Hospital, Hanau, Germany 63454.

Publication date: 2006-08-01

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• Military Medicine is the Association's official monthly journal. The objective of the Journal is to promote awareness of Federal medicine by providing a forum for responsible discussion of common ideas and problems relevant to Federal healthcare. Its mission is: To increase healthcare education by providing scientific and other information to its readers; to facilitate communication; and to offer a prestige publication for members' writings.
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