The Clinician-Rated Distress Thermo

The Clinician-Rated Distress Thermometer was more reliable when performed by psychologists and, to a lesser degree, by nurses. The physicians were the ones who made most of the mistakes, often by underestimating patients’ distress. Is it because they have too medical a representation of distress, based on standard notions of anxiety and depression? This would explain why they did not identify suffering in patients who met neither of the conditions. Further studies are needed on the differences between health professionals in their assessment practice to determine whether other factors are involved such as a closer interpersonal relationship in the caring process, age and experience.