Webinar content

Persistent physical symptoms – including pain, fatigue, dizziness, and many more are common in all areas of medicine.  Patients with persistent physical symptoms commonly experience poor communication, and often experience stigma. Persistent physical symptoms are problematic when viewed in a binary mind-or-body way, but recent developments in the neuroscience of symptoms have led to ways of explaining symptoms in terms of brain-and-body. This Webinar will look at the problem of persistent physical symptoms in relation to medical education, introduce some of the recent science and then describe new evidence that provides important insights into how communication for these common problems can be improved.

The talk builds on a paper published in PEC. The main paper has also just been published in The Lancet.

Professor Chris Burton

Chris Burton is Professor of Primary Medical Care at the University of Sheffield. His main research and clinical interest is in persistent physical symptoms but his work extends to broader issues around the intersection of physical and mental health. His work focuses on the interpersonal aspects of care including involving the processes of diagnosis, explanation and reassurance.  Chris recently led Multiple Symptoms Study 3, a large trial of an extended role GP consultation intervention for persistent physical symptoms. Chris worked for many years as a GP in a rural former coal-mining community in the SouthWest of Scotland. He completed his doctorate at the University of Edinburgh and was a Senior Lecturer in Primary Care at the University of Aberdeen before moving to Sheffield in 2017.

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/smph/people/population-health/chris-burton

Dr Catie Nagel MBChB (Hons), MRCGP, MEd

Catie Nagel is a General Practitioner with a background in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education since 2010.  She is a GP partner and trainer and has previously worked as a Course Director and Year Lead at the University of Leeds.  She has completed an NIHR funded In Practice Fellowship at the University of Sheffield, supervised by Professor Chris Burton.  Her research interests are in teaching Persistent Physical Symptoms and measuring the effectiveness of clinical education.

The presentation will be followed by Q&A

Time shown is BST. CEST 1pm – 2pm