National conference 15-16 June 2017: Contested Chronic Conditions - Patient Perspectives

For medical doctors:

The conference is pre-approved as a course for the following specialities by The Norwegian Medical Association (approval granted 7th of April 2017):

• Primary medicine ("Allmennmedisin: godkjennes med 9 valgfrie kurspoeng til videre- og etterutdanningen")
• Neurology ("Nevrologi: godkjennes med 12 timer for spesialistenes etterutdanning")
• Paedriatrics ("Barnesykdommer: godkjennes med 9 timer for spesialistenes etterutdanning")
• Psychiatry ("Psykiatri: godkjennes med 12 timer for spesialistenes etterutdanning")

The course is listed in the DNL course catalogue here.

International speakers

• Professor Christopher Dowrick, University of Liverpool, UK
• Professor Sue Ziebland, University of Oxford, UK
• Professor Sarah Nettleton, University of York, UK, and University of Tromsø
• Associate professor Pia Bülow, Jönköping University, Sweden
• Posdoc-researcher Catherine Robson, University of York, UK, and University of Tromsø

Patient perspectives entail an experiential kind of situated and embodied knowledge. The importance and value of creating health care services centred on the patient perspective is increasingly recognised, and patient engagement is incorporated in many clinical and political initiatives.

In the White Paper Meld. St. 26 (2014–2015) The primary health and care services of tomorrow – localised and integrated, the Government presents crucial steps towards this goal: “Future-oriented services take decisions in consultation with the users, are concerned about the users’ goals, needs and desires for their own lives, and use this as a basis for determining which services to provide and how they should be designed”.

In the Contested Chronic Conditions: Patients Perspectives conference we seek to explore the role of Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) in health care service provision and discuss how such involvement might be achieved, particularly in relation to contested chronic conditions.

Consultations between health care workers and people with contested chronic conditions, often referred to as medically unexplained physical symptom (MUPS), are among the most challenging clinical encounters in contemporary Western societies. These encounters are often imbued in conflict between health care workers who report feeling inadequate and resentful in these consultations, and patients who describe experiences of being blamed, disbelieved and left without any adequate help or support. 

The lack of congruence between doctor and patient experiences makes contested chronic conditions particularly relevant for exploring the role of patient perspectives in clinical research, education and practice.