How Faculty Can Prepare Students and Trainees to Support Patients with Undiagnosed Conditions
October 9, 2025
Patients with undiagnosed conditions often experience frustration and lose trust in health care.
In a new article inside AMA Journal of Ethics, Mylynda B. Massart, MD, PhD, associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh and medical director, UPMC Primary Care Precision Medicine clinic, and Erika N. Dreikorn, PhD, director of Research and Communications, University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute, suggest how faculty in academic health centers can prepare their students and trainees to respond with care to the vulnerabilities and needs of patients seeking accurate diagnoses.
Specifically, Dr. Massart and Dr. Dreikorn discuss the importance of clinicians’ roles in validating patients’ knowledge claims about their illness experiences. Such validation during clinical encounters can happen when clinicians prioritize symptom management, acknowledge uncertainty as an emotionally painful part of a patient’s illness experiences, articulate limitations of clinical knowledge, and express values such as care, partnership, and compassion in their relationships with patients.
Read the article.
