A THEORY OF POSTOPERATIVE FATIGUE

The concept of fatigue has entered medicine from other disciplines in which the term refers to weakening of a material by demands put upon i t. Its application to the behavioural and subjective changes that char acterize postoperative convalescence has led to the assumption that th ese changes reflect the physiological and metabolic consequences of su rgery. Because evidence does not support this view, we outline a new t heory in which postoperative fatigue is the product of physiological, psychological and cultural factors. This theory leads to novel predict ions that can be tested in future clinical research. Of particular int erest will be the evaluation of systematic attempts to change patient and staff expectations about postoperative convalescence.