Family Practice Vol. 17, No. 4, 285-287
© Oxford University Press 2000
Editorial |
‘Partners in pain’—the game of painmanship revisited
School of Primary Care, University of Manchester, Rusholme Health Centre, Walmer Street, Manchester M14 5NP, UK.
Chew-Graham CA and May C. ‘Partners in pain’—the game of painmanship revisited. Family Practice 2000; 17: 285–287.
Received 10 December 1999; Accepted 13 March 2000.
Introduction
Chronic low back pain is common in primary care, and there is no doubt that some of its manifestations are demoralizing and dispiriting for the GP.1 Sufferers often present without identifiable organic pathology, and their condition appears intractable. Here we suggest that GPs' own ideas about the consultation and the moral nature of the doctor–patient relationship in general practice may themselves go some way towards constructing this ‘intractable’ state. Our objective is to reflect on the possibility that current ideas about good clinical practice might themselves be iatrogenic.
Doctor–patient interaction
The interaction between doctor and patient, embodied in the ‘consultation’, is the cornerstone of contemporary general practice.2 An average GP, in an average practice, will be involved in some 8000 consultations a year.3 Over time, the consultation has come to be attributed great importance not simply as the occasion for medical work (diagnosis, treatment, management and so forth), but also as an
Chronic low back pain
Partners in pain?
Conclusion
References