The fatigue perception and its role in patient management
The fatigue perception and its role in patient management
Yazar: Yurtsever, Ceyhun; Set, Turan; Ateş, Elif
Dergi: Dicle Tıp Dergisi, Vol. 45 No. 1, 2018
Anahtar kelimeler: Health Care Administration ; Sağlık Kurumları Yönetimi ; Depression,fatigue,perception,primary care

Objective:Fatigue is one of the most common complaints in primary care. Patients' fatigueperceptions may be very different from each other. We aimed to determine thefatigue perception and its relationship with fatigue severity, sociodemographiccharacteristics, history, physical examination and laboratory findings inpatients with complaints of fatigue.Methods:This study was carried out as a cross-sectional study in a tertiary familymedicine clinic between June 2016 and June 2017. All patients aged 18 years andover who were complaining of fatigue for at least 1 month were invited tostudy. Fatigue perceptions of volunteers who agreed to participate in the study(n = 116) were evaluated with a structured form prepared by researchers.Fatigue severity was measured using Fatigue Severity Scale and ChecklistIndividual Strength surveys. Patients’ records including history, physicalexamination and laboratory results were included in the study.Results:The mean age of participants was 29.5 ± 9.8 years and 87.9% were female. Weasked patients “what do they mean by fatigue?” and “what fatigue complaintscontain?”. Tiredness, lack of energy and sleeplessness - somnolence - desire tosleep were the most common answers. Expression that had the highest score fromthe fatigue severity scales was the needle hurt sensation for all body. Inpatients’ records, the most common findings in patients with fatigue werevitamin D deficiency (84.5%), sleeping problem (72.8%) and depression (69%).When the relationship between fatigue perceptions and possible etiologicfactors was examined, it was observed that most of them were related with thedepression risk. As a result, it was observed that seven different findingsaffected nineteen different fatigue perceptions.Conclusion:In this study, fatigue perception has been shown to be as important as otherfeatures. The physicians should investigate its content and try to understandthe patient.

Objective:Fatigue is one of the most common complaints in primary care. Patients' fatigueperceptions may be very different from each other. We aimed to determine thefatigue perception and its relationship with fatigue severity, sociodemographiccharacteristics, history, physical examination and laboratory findings inpatients with complaints of fatigue.Methods:This study was carried out as a cross-sectional study in a tertiary familymedicine clinic between June 2016 and June 2017. All patients aged 18 years andover who were complaining of fatigue for at least 1 month were invited tostudy. Fatigue perceptions of volunteers who agreed to participate in the study(n = 116) were evaluated with a structured form prepared by researchers.Fatigue severity was measured using Fatigue Severity Scale and ChecklistIndividual Strength surveys. Patients’ records including history, physicalexamination and laboratory results were included in the study.Results:The mean age of participants was 29.5 ± 9.8 years and 87.9% were female. Weasked patients “what do they mean by fatigue?” and “what fatigue complaintscontain?”. Tiredness, lack of energy and sleeplessness - somnolence - desire tosleep were the most common answers. Expression that had the highest score fromthe fatigue severity scales was the needle hurt sensation for all body. Inpatients’ records, the most common findings in patients with fatigue werevitamin D deficiency (84.5%), sleeping problem (72.8%) and depression (69%).When the relationship between fatigue perceptions and possible etiologicfactors was examined, it was observed that most of them were related with thedepression risk. As a result, it was observed that seven different findingsaffected nineteen different fatigue perceptions.Conclusion:In this study, fatigue perception has been shown to be as important as otherfeatures. The physicians should investigate its content and try to understandthe patient.