TY - JOUR T1 - Initial assessment of patients with putative functional disorders in medical settings JF - Clinical Medicine JO - Clin Med SP - 8 LP - 12 DO - 10.7861/clinmed.2020-0832 VL - 21 IS - 1 AU - Peter Tyrer AU - Charles Fox AU - Catherine Gardiner AU - Roger Mulder AU - Helen Tyrer Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/21/1/8.abstract N2 - Patients presenting with symptoms suggestive of functional disorder are very frequent in practice. While it is always necessary to exclude treatable organic pathology, there are important clues in the presentation that can help the clinician. In particular, it is important to identify pathological health anxiety early in assessment, as failure to do so may lead to unnecessary investigations and the dangerous path of reinforcing reassurance. Because full assessment of functional symptoms takes time, it is suggested that a clinical support nurse with some training in psychological management should be available to guide the management of the patients with these disorders. Such support nurses, based in the clinic, offer a seamless way of providing care that is not achieved by external referral to psychologists or equivalent staff. ER -