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Biomedical subjects

S R Hahn

Publications and source records attributed to S R Hahn.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Physical symptoms and physician-experienced difficulty in the physician-patient relationship.

BACKGROUND: The practice of medicine has many expected and accepted challenges, but all physicians experience some patients as difficult to a degree that transcends these expectations. Physician-experienced difficulty is associated with a syndrome of three characteristics: patient psychopathology, abrasive interpersonal styles, and multiple physical symptoms. OBJECTIVE: To assess the roles played by the number of physical symptoms and by specific symptoms in determining whether physician-experienced difficulty occurs. DESIGN: New analyses of epidemiologic survey data from the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) 1000 Study. SETTING: Four primary care clinics. PARTICIPANTS: 627 ambulatory patients seen by 27 physicians. MEASUREMENTS: Physician-experienced difficulty was measured by using the 10-item Difficult Doctor Patient Relationship Questionnaire (DDPRQ-10); patient-reported physical symptoms and physician-assessed psychopathology and somatoform symptoms were evaluated by using the PRIME-MD; and physical illnesses were measured by using a physician questionnaire. RESULTS: The number of physical symptoms and the number of somatoform symptoms correlated with difficulty (r = 0.39 and r = 0.37, respectively; P < 0.001), and the correlations remained significant after adjustment for physical and mental disorders (r = 0.20 for both correlations; P < 0.001). Difficult patients were more likely to have each of 16 physical symptoms; the odds of being difficult were greater for patients with 1 of 5 particular symptoms (stomach pain, fainting, loose stools/diarrhea, palpitations, and sleep problems), even after adjustment for physical and mental disorders. All 10 items on the DDPRQ-10 were influenced by physical symptoms, particularly those items that asked about physician frustration and whether patients were manipulative and time consuming. CONCLUSIONS: The association between physical symptoms and difficulty is due in part to the association between physical symptoms and mental disorders, but symptoms also contribute independently to difficulty. The independent component of symptom-associated difficulty may be due to 1) differences between patient and physician in expectations about treatment and 2) the part that symptoms play in conferring the "sick role" on a patient.

Communication↗
PubMed1997

Multisomatoform disorder. An alternative to undifferentiated somatoform disorder for the somatizing patient in primary care.

BACKGROUND: For clinical or research use in primary care, the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for somatization disorder are too restrictive, while the criteria for undifferentiated somatoform disorder are overly inclusive. In this article, we examine the validity of multisomatoform disorder, defined as 3 or more medically unexplained, currently bothersome physical symptoms plus a long (> or = 2 years) history of somatization. METHODS: Data from the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders Study of 1000 patients from 4 primary care sites were analyzed. The outcomes assessed were 6 domains of health-related quality of life, using the 20-item Short-Form General Health Survey; self-reported disability days and health care use; satisfaction with care; and physician-rated difficulty of the encounter. RESULTS: Multisomatoform disorder was diagnosed in 82 (8.2%) of the 1000 patients who were enrolled in the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders Study. Compared with mood and anxiety disorders, multisomatoform disorder was associated with comparable impairment in health-related quality of life, more self-reported disability days and clinic visits, and greater clinician-perceived patient difficulty. CONCLUSIONS: Multisomatoform disorder may be a valid diagnosis and potentially more useful than the DSM-IV diagnosis of undifferentiated somatoform disorder. Also, because multisomatoform disorder has a large and independent effect on impairment, its diagnosis should not be precluded simply because of a coexisting mood or anxiety disorder.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

The difficult patient: prevalence, psychopathology, and functional impairment.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the proportion of primary care patients who are experienced by their physicians as "difficult," and to assess the association of difficulty with physical and mental disorders, functional impairment, health care utilization, and satisfaction with medical care. DESIGN: Survey. SETTING: Four primary care clinics. PATIENTS: Six-hundred twenty-seven adult patients. MEASUREMENTS: Physician perception of difficulty (Difficult Doctor-Patient Relationship Questionnaire), mental disorders and symptoms (Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders, [PRIME-MDI]), functional status (Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form Health Survey [SF-20]), utilization of and satisfaction with medical care by patient self-report. RESULTS: Physicians rated 96 (15%) of their 627 patients as difficult (site range 11-20%). Difficult patients were much more likely than not-difficult patients to have a mental disorder (67% vs 35% [corrected], p < .0001). Six psychiatric disorders had particularly strong associations with difficulty: multisomatoform disorder (odds ratio [OR] = 12.3. 95% confidence interval [CI] = 5.9-26.8), panic disorder (OR = 6.9, 95% CI = 2.6-18.1), dysthymia (OR = 4.2, 95% CI = 2.0-8.7), generalized anxiety (OR = 3.4, 95% CI = 1.7-7.1), major depressive disorder (OR = 3.0, 95% CI = 1.8-5.3), and probable alcohol abuse or dependence (OR = 2.6, 95% CI = 1.01-6.7). Compared with not-difficult patients, difficult patients had more functional impairment, higher health care utilization, and lower satisfaction with care, whereas demographic characteristics and physical illnesses were not associated with difficulty. The presence of mental disorders accounted for a substantial proportion of the excess functional impairment and dissatisfaction in difficult patients. CONCLUSIONS: Difficult patients are prevalent in primary care settings and have more psychiatric disorders, functional impairment, health care utilization, and dissatisfaction with care. Future studies are needed to determine whether improved diagnosis and management of mental disorders in difficult patients could diminish their excess disability, health care costs, and dissatisfaction with medical care, as well as the physicians experience of difficulty.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Psychiatric training in medicine residencies: current needs, practices, and satisfaction.

The purpose of this study was to determine the current level of psychiatric training in internal medicine residencies, satisfaction with this training, and perceived need, if any, for more training. Surveys were mailed to all training directors of accredited primary care (N = 178) and categorical (N = 410) internal medicine residencies in the United States; 110 primary care (62%) and 238 categorical (58%) training directors returned the surveys. Seventy-five percent of categorical and 66% of primary care training directors thought their program should spend more time on psychiatric disorders. For all categories of psychiatric disorder, training intensity was greater and satisfaction with training higher in the primary care programs, but less than half of the directors were satisfied with their current level of training, e.g., 33% of categorical and 47% of primary care directors were satisfied with their residents training concerning depression. Training in somatoform disorders, psychotropic drugs, and office psychotherapy were most frequently identified as deficient. The most favored additions to the curriculum were psychiatric consultants in medical clinics and on medical wards. Although most outpatient care for psychiatric disorders is given by primary care physicians, internal medicine training directors perceive current levels of training in their residencies as inadequate. Innovative collaborations between medicine and psychiatry departments will be necessary if treatment of psychiatric disorders in primary care is to be improved.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1995

Health-related quality of life in primary care patients with mental disorders. Results from the PRIME-MD 1000 Study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if different mental disorders commonly seen in primary care are uniquely associated with distinctive patterns of impairment in the components of health-related quality of life (HRQL) and how this compares with the impairment seen in common medical disorders. DESIGN: Survey. SETTING: Four primary care clinics. SUBJECTS: A total of 1000 adult patients (369 selected by convenience and 631 selected by site-specific methods to avoid sampling bias) assessed by 31 primary care physicians using PRIME-MD (Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders) to make diagnoses of mood, anxiety, alcohol, somatoform, and eating disorders. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The six scales of the Short-Form General Health Survey and self-reported disability days, adjusting for demographic variables as well as psychiatric and medical comorbidity. RESULTS: Mood, anxiety, somatoform, and eating disorders were associated with substantial impairment in HRQL. Impairment was also present in patients who only had subthreshold mental disorder diagnoses, such as minor depression and anxiety disorder not otherwise specified. Mental disorders, particularly mood disorders, accounted for considerably more of the impairment on all domains of HRQL than did common medical disorders. Finally, we found marked differences in the pattern of impairment among different groups of mental disorders just as others have reported unique patterns associated with different medical disorders. Whereas mood disorders had a pervasive effect on all domains of HRQL, anxiety, somatoform, and eating disorders affected only selected domains. CONCLUSIONS: Mental disorders commonly seen in primary care are not only associated with more impairment in HRQL than common medical disorders, but also have distinct patterns of impairment. Primary care directed at improving HRQL needs to focus on the recognition and treatment of common mental disorders. Outcomes studies of mental disorders in both primary care and psychiatric settings should include multidimensional measures of HRQL.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Gender differences in depression in primary care.

OBJECTIVES: To determine gender differences in the frequency and manifestation of depression in primary care. STUDY DESIGN: PRIME-MD, a new assessment tool, was tested in 1000 patients as an aid to diagnose depression in primary care patients. Answers to a self-assessment questionnaire completed by patients determined whether physicians administered the mood module in the Clinician Evaluation Guide to diagnose depression. Functional status was assessed with the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-20). RESULTS: More women than men were diagnosed as having a mood disorder (31% vs 19%; p < 0.01), and an antidepressant was newly prescribed only for women (p < 0.001). There were no gender differences in physician ratings of patients' health, but women rated their health significantly more poorly than did men. Similarly, functional impairment scores were significantly lower in women than in men. CONCLUSIONS: Women are much more likely than men to have depressive disorders, and when these disorders are diagnosed, to receive a prescription for antidepressant medication. Further research is needed to determine why women seem to suffer disproportionately from symptoms of depression and signs of functional impairment.

Antidepressive Agents↗
PubMed1994

Utility of a new procedure for diagnosing mental disorders in primary care. The PRIME-MD 1000 study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the validity and utility of PRIME-MD (Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders), a new rapid procedure for diagnosing mental disorders by primary care physicians. DESIGN: Survey; criterion standard. SETTING: Four primary care clinics. SUBJECTS: A total of 1000 adult patients (369 selected by convenience and 631 selected by site-specific methods to avoid sampling bias) assessed by 31 primary care physicians. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: PRIME-MD diagnoses, independent diagnoses made by mental health professionals, functional status measures (Short-Form General Health Survey), disability days, health care utilization, and treatment/referral decisions. RESULTS: Twenty-six percent of the patients had a PRIME-MD diagnosis that met full criteria for a specific disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Revised Third Edition. The average time required of the primary care physician to complete the PRIME-MD evaluation was 8.4 minutes. There was good agreement between PRIME-MD diagnoses and those of independent mental health professionals (for the diagnosis of any PRIME-MD disorder, kappa = 0.71; overall accuracy rate = 88%). Patients with PRIME-MD diagnoses had lower functioning, more disability days, and higher rates of health care utilization than did patients without PRIME-MD diagnoses (for all measures, P < .005). Nearly half (48%) of 287 patients with a PRIME-MD diagnosis who were somewhat or fairly well-known to their physicians had not been recognized to have that diagnosis before the PRIME-MD evaluation. A new treatment or referral was initiated for 62% of the 125 patients with a PRIME-MD diagnosis who were not already being treated. CONCLUSION: PRIME-MD appears to be a useful tool for identifying mental disorders in primary care practice and research.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Physical symptoms in primary care. Predictors of psychiatric disorders and functional impairment.

OBJECTIVE: To examine how the type and number of physical symptoms reported by primary care patients are related to psychiatric disorders and functional impairment. DESIGN: Outpatient mental health survey. SETTING: Four primary care clinics. PATIENTS: One thousand adult clinic patients, of whom 631 were selected randomly or consecutively and 369 by convenience. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Psychiatric disorders as determined by the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders procedure; the presence or absence of 15 common physical symptoms and whether symptoms were somatoform (ie, lacked an adequate physical explanation); and functional status as determined by the Medical Outcomes Study Short-form General Health Survey. RESULTS: Each of the 15 common symptoms was frequently somatoform (range, 16% to 33%). The presence of any physical symptom increased the likelihood of a diagnosis of a mood or anxiety disorder by at least twofold to three-fold, and somatoform symptoms had a particularly strong association with psychiatric disorders. The likelihood of a psychiatric disorder increased dramatically with increasing numbers of physical symptoms. The prevalence of a mood disorder in patients with 0 to 1, 2 to 3, 4 to 5, 6 to 8, and 9 or more symptoms was 2%, 12%, 23%, 44%, and 60%, respectively, and the prevalence of an anxiety disorder was 1%, 7%, 13%, 30%, and 48%, respectively. Finally, each physical symptom was associated with significant functional impairment; indeed, the number of physical symptoms was a powerful correlate of functional status. CONCLUSIONS: The number of physical symptoms is highly predictive for psychiatric disorders and functional impairment. Multiple or unexplained symptoms may signify a potentially treatable mood or anxiety disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

The difficult doctor-patient relationship: somatization, personality and psychopathology.

The difficult doctor-patient relationship and "difficult patients" have been the subject of considerable anecdotal study. Reliable methods for identification of difficult patients have not been available for the empirical study of their prevalence and characteristics. We developed the Difficult Doctor-Patient Relationship Questionnaire (DDPRQ), composed of 30 Likert items, completed by physicians after encounters with patients. Adult patients and their providers in an academic, municipal hospital clinic participated in the instrument development (n = 92), reliability (n = 224), and assessment of patient characteristics phases (n = 113) of the study. The DDPRQ was shown to be a reliable, practical instrument. Factor analysis revealed 5 dimensions with face validity. The DDPRQ classified 10.3-20.6% of patient encounters as "difficult" depending on the sample. Demographic characteristics, provider characteristics and most medical diagnoses were not associated with DDPRQ score. In contrast, difficult patients were characterized by psychosomatic symptoms, at least mild personality disorder, and Axis I (major) psychopathology, and most had more than one of these characteristics. The need to identify and understand these components of difficult patient behavior and to include the doctor-patient relationship in strategies for managing the difficult patient is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

The doctor-patient-family relationship: a compensatory alliance.

Patients request health care for reasons that transcend the management of medical disease. Patients seek to create an "alliance" with the physician which "compensates" for conflict or deficit in the family system. This is particularly true for "problem," "difficult," or "hateful" patients who have significant psychosocial problems. When such a compensatory alliance evolves, it may become dysfunctional, limiting the physician's ability to make necessary medical interventions. By not explicitly including other family members, the traditional dyadic model of the doctor-patient relationship predisposes towards the formation of a compensatory alliance. The nature of the dysfunctional compensatory alliance may even remain obscure because the patient presents a distorted picture of the family situation. Therefore, to manage the compensatory alliance, the physician must perform a simple family assessment, including direct communication with other family members, early in the formation of the doctor-patient relationship. The physician should be alert to the formation of a dysfunctional compensatory alliance and the need to perform a family assessment whenever a patient explicitly or implicitly makes a request that engages the doctor with another family member. Recognition that a patient is "difficult" or awareness of a sense of helplessness, and frustration in caring for a patient may also indicate formation of a dysfunctional compensatory alliance and the need for family assessment. Recognizing key aspects of the doctor-patient-family relationship will enable the clinician to manage the compensatory alliance in a productive and therapeutic fashion. When family dysfunction requiring significant change is discovered, involvement of a family therapist should be offered.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Identifying patients with depression in the primary care setting: a more efficient method.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if there is a core subset of depressive symptoms that could be used to efficiently diagnose depression after administering the 2-item PRIME-MD a screening questionnaire for depression. METHODS: One thousand patients selected randomly and by convenience from 4 primary care clinics were assessed by PRIME-MD and completed a questionnaire measuring the following validation variables: functional status and well-being, disability days, somatic symptoms, depression severity, suicidal thoughts, health care utilization, and the physician-patient relationship. RESULTS: Four symptoms (sleep disturbance, anhedonia, low self-esteem, and decreased appetite) accounted for virtually all the depression symptom-related variance in functional status and well-being, with 8.3% of patients having 2 of these symptoms and 8.2% having 3 or 4 of these symptoms. There was excellent agreement between diagnosis based on core symptoms and major depression (K= 0.77; overall accuracy rate, 94%). There were significant differences (P<.001) among patients with negative depression screen, 0 to 1, 2, and 3 to 4 core symptoms with scores on each of the validation variables getting progressively worse in these 4 groups. A cutoff point of 2 core symptoms identified all but 3 patients with major depression and an additional 5% of the entire sample without major depression who were significantly (P<.05) worse than patients without depression on each of the validation variables. CONCLUSION: A strategy that includes the use of a 2-item depression screener followed by the evaluation of 4 core depressive symptoms is an efficient and effective way of identifying and classifying primary care patients with depression in need of clinical attention.

Alabama↗