The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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Biography Historical Article
John Holden: an appreciation: Born 9 May 1953; died 15 July 2018.
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Empathy has positive effects on a range of healthcare outcomes. It is therefore an important skill for a GP. However, the correlation between GP perception of delivered empathy and patient perception of GP empathic communication during consultations is still unclear. ⋯ GPs rate the delivered empathy during consultations consistently and significantly lower than their patients experience empathy during consultations. Moreover, GPs' impressions of the empathy delivered during the consultation do not predict the actual amount of empathy perceived by their patients. Patients experience a great deal of empathy during their clinical encounter. GPs' self-reports on empathy delivered gives an inaccurate reflection, and underestimates patient-perceived empathy.
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Multiple myeloma is a haematological cancer characterised by numerous non-specific symptoms leading to diagnostic delay in a large proportion of patients. ⋯ Plasma viscosity and ESR are better for both ruling in and ruling out the disease compared with C-reactive protein. A combination of a normal ESR or PV and normal haemoglobin is a simple rule-out approach for patients currently being tested in primary care.