Frequent consulters of health care.

Overview

Frequent users of health care are only a fraction of the patient population, the frequency and mode of consulting prove to be out of proportion and annoying. The nature of their healthwise behavior follows from the coexistence of body and psycho-social problems in their recent or more remote past. Often, there is present some anxious or depressive disturbance, the curing of which is effected by consultations. There are frequent visits to a number of healthcare as well as social care systems. Knowledge of the problem can diminish negative reactions that such patients evoke in healthcare facilities.

Key words:
frequent users – frequent consulters – difficult patients