General practitioners 'better than specialists' for fibromyalgia patients
General practitioners are better than specialists when it comes to fibromyalgia management, a pain management expert has claimed.
Speaking at the Meet-The-Experts programme conducted as part of Pain Week 2008, Dr Kevin Zacharoff, an anaesthesiologist from New York, explained that while fibromyalgia patients may be referred to specialists like rheumatologists, neurologists, pain experts, and psychiatrists, it is general practitioners who are best suited to manage most fibromyalgia patients.
This is because general practitioners have the requisite tools for assessing and treating fibromyalgia patients, more often than specialists do.
Another reason is that fibromyalgia is not a static condition, as it is characterised by symptoms that may peak and trough.
According to Dr Zacharoff, the general practitioners knows the patient better than a specialist, as he or she is responsible for the patient's overall health care. A specialist, meanwhile, manages only a "component" of the patient's health care and has only a "finite" relationship with the patient.
"As with other medical conditions, patients should be referred when the limitations of the primary care physician have been surpassed," Dr Zacharoff noted.
"For example, when the primary care doctor no longer feels comfortable treating the patient or when a long-term treatment plan agreed upon by the physician and patient is unsuccessful - these are a 'flip switch' that it's time for a referral to a specialist."
A spokeswoman for the Arthritis Research Campaign expressed surprise at Dr Zacharoff's views.
"Some GPs can manage fibromyalgia adequately but the condition remains the second most common cause of referral to a rheumatologist," she added.
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