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Updated: May 19, 2026

Digital Home-Monitoring of Patients after Kidney Transplantation: The MACCS Platform
Published on: April 12, 2021
Abstract:
I recently participated in a registrar education discussion about 'heartsink' patients. What is a heartsink patient? O'Dowd appears to have coined the phrase and refers to patients who 'exasperate, defeat and overwhelm their doctors by their behaviour'. He implemented a plan to identify, discuss and actively manage the heartsink patients at his practice and his definition has led to a classification of typical trigger patients and guidelines on how to best manage these patients
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