Hidden Agenda Among Individuals Visiting a Family Physician in Turkey for Routine Health Visits: a Cross-sectional Study

Excerpt

When a patient requests a periodic health examination or a screening test, physicians may assume it is for detection of an asymptomatic disease. In this context, most recommendations for periodic health examinations are based largely on the prevalence of preventable disease in asymptomatic individuals.¹ However, a prospective study has shown that the majority of patients coming in for a routine check-up were motivated by specific symptoms and health concerns and were not “asymptomatic.”² This could be systematically ignored or overlooked during check-up consultations in which physicians may focus on delivering recommended screenings. Unfortunately, however, one in three patients have one or more hidden agendas for their periodic health examination.³ Patients often use periodic health examinations as a reason for consultation to raise the issue of a specific problem that troubles them, to use the physician as a counselor to discuss problems, to seek reassurance regarding symptoms or to obtain relief.⁴ Our study purpose was to evaluate the presence of a hidden agenda among individuals visiting a family physician in Turkey for routine health visits. …