BMJ  2006;333:135 (15 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7559.135

Commentary

Lessons on functional diseases

Samy A Azer, senior lecturer in medical education

Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia azer2000@optusnet.com.au

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Kenneth Neville's case raises the question whether we should teach general practitioners and medical students about functional oesophageal disorders.1 This question is particularly important now that most medical schools are implementing a problem based or case based curriculum. The philosophy of these courses is to focus on key concepts and reduce detail in the subject matter. Conditions such as rumination syndrome will not be considered important and will be omitted.

Interestingly, major medical textbooks also show a deficiency in this area. For example, the last editions of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine and Cecil Textbook of Medicine provide only a three line definition of the condition,2 3 and Davidson's Principles and Practice of Medicine4 and Medicine5 do not mention rumination syndrome. The only textbook that provides more detail and criteria for diagnosis is Kumar and Clark's Clinical Medicine.6 This lack of information about functional oesophageal disorders might partly explain why . . . [Full text of this article]


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