Education on medically unexplained symptoms: a systematic review with a focus on cultural diversity and migrants 2023, Vermeir et al

Abstract
Background

Health care providers often struggle with the management of patients with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS), especially in case of a different ethnicity and/or cultural background. These challenges are insufficiently addressed in their training.

Objectives
A systematic review on education in the field of MUS in a diverse context to improve MUS healthcare provider–patient interaction focused on intercultural communication.

Methods
Screening of PubMed, Web of Science, Cinahl and Cochrane Library on the keywords ‘Medical unexplained (physical) symptoms (MUS)’, ‘Somatoform disorder’, ‘Functional syndrome’, ‘Diversity’, ‘Migrants’, ‘Ethnicity’, ‘Care models’, ‘Medical education’, ‘Communication skills’, ‘Health literacy’.

Results
MUS patients, especially with a different ethnic background, often feel not understood or neglected. Health care providers experience feelings of helplessness, which may provoke medical shopping and resource consumption. Attitudes and perceptions from undergraduate trainees to senior physicians tend to be negative, impacting on the quality of the patient/health care provider relationship and subsequently on health outcomes, patient satisfaction and therapeutic adherence. Current undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate education and training does not prepare health care providers for diagnosing and managing MUS patients in a diverse context. A continuum of training is necessary to achieve a long term and lasting change in attitudes towards these patients and trainers play a key role in this process. Hence, education should pay attention to MUS, requiring a specific competency profile and training, taken into account the variety in patients’ cultural backgrounds.

Conclusions
This systematic review identified significant gaps and shortcomings in education on MUS in a diverse context. These need to be addressed to improve outcomes.

https://eurjmedres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40001-023-01105-7

 

you could tell them to grow up and admit that present day medical science does not have all the answers .

 

-> "MUS patients, especially with a different ethnic background, are often not understood and neglected."

I'm seeing the doctors trotting off en masse down to the Audi show room...

"CFS/ME". Ah OK, I'm about to stop reading... although I do agree with —

The dualistic healthcare system might be better defined as the scientific good one and the pseudoscientific harmful one (whether that's oncology, orthopaedics or psychiatry). Although full credit to these patients for avoiding useless treatments for 25 years!

 

And then they went for the immigrants with MUS.

 

They're getting tired of ableism and moving onto racism.