Measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of a communication training for medical specialists focused on patients with medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS).

• Conditions: Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms; MUPS; Education; Consultation skills training; Communication; Medical specialists; Illness worries; Cost-effectiveness; Randomised Controlled Trial.

• Registration Number: NL-OMON20348
• Lead Sponsor: Primary sponsor: Erasmus MC department of Internal Medicine; Secondary sponsors: Faculty Social Sciences of the Erasmus University Rotterdam; VUMC department of General Practice, EMGO+ Institute for Health and Care Research; NIVEL

Brief Summary

/A

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Results First Posted: 1900-01-01
• Last Update Posted: 28 February 2024

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: Pending
• Sex: Not specified
• Target Recruitment: 720

Inclusion Criteria

Adult outpatients with MUPS, diagnosed by the participating specialist.

Exclusion Criteria

1. Age < 18 years;

2. Not able to comprehend Dutch;

Study & Design

• Study Type: Interventional
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
On patient-level we measure with questionnaires:<br /><br>1. Illness worries with Whiteley Index;<br /><br>2. Current symptom severity with VAS;<br /><br>3. Distress, depression, anxiety and somatisation with 4-DSQ;<br /><br>4. Daily functioning of patients with SF-36.<br /><br>The questionnaires will be taken at baseline, after 3 months and after 6 months.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
On doctor-level we measure the application of consultation skills by observation of video-taped consultations and facts from patientfiles.<br /><br>An economic evaluation will be performed from societal perspective. Costs of the training programme, health care utilization, personal expenses and production loss will be measured. The research team registers the costs of intervention; we measure the other volumina by patient questionnaires.