What is reassurance?

Patients with physical symptoms attend medical consultations expecting a clear and valid explanation for their health complaints. Patient reassurance is a central component of the medical consultation and is the most commonly occurring and important aspect of patient care. After being reassured by their doctor, many patients are unconvinced that their symptoms do not relate to physical disease and continue to experience ongoing health-related distress. Whether in primary care or following a diagnostic test, effective patient reassurance is essential to promote wellbeing and prevent future unnecessary medical visits and investigations.

In most cases reassurance is offered following the history taking and physical examination, although often the process may occur after further diagnostic or laboratory testing. Reassurance can be defined as communication between doctor and patient that is intended to allay the patient's health related fears and anxieties. Typically, the process involves the doctor providing an explanation of the patient's symptoms and confirmation that the patient has no serious illness. To be effective reassurance needs to adequately address the patient's worries about the health threat.

Reassurance following investigative tests

Patient reassurance has received only minimal attention in current empirical research, with much of this research focusing on the effectiveness of reassurance following diagnostic medical tests. Evidence shows that many patients are not reassured following a negative test result and in some patients diagnostic tests may cause more harm than good by increasing patient perceptions of disease vulnerability.