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Objectives. Parents of sick children frequently visit their general practitioners (GPs). The aim was to explore parents' interpretation of their child's incipient signs and symptoms when falling ill and their subsequent unsatisfactory experience with the GP in order to make suggestions for improvements in the medical encounter. Design. Semi-structured interviews. Setting and subjects. Twenty strategically selected families with a child from a birth cohort in Frederiksborg County, Denmark were interviewed. Results. Parents wanted to consult their GP at the right time, i.e. neither too early nor too late. Well-educated parents experienced a discrepancy between their knowledge about their child, the information they had sought about the illness and the consultation with the GP, when they were dismissed with phrases such as ''it will disappear'' or ''it is just a virus''. The parents went along with the GP's advice if the child only occasionally became sick. However, parents of children with recurrent illnesses seemed very frustrated. During the course of several consultations with their GP, they started to question the GP's competence as the child did not regain health. Conclusions. Parents want to be acknowledged as competent collaborators. The GP's failure to acknowledge the parents' knowledge of their child's current illness, and the parents' attempt to identify what is wrong with the child and make the child feel better before the encounter may have consequences for the GP's credibility. It is therefore recommended that parents of children with recurrent illnesses receive extra attention and information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The language of risk has many meanings, and in this article we demonstrate a discrepancy between individually perceived risk and the medical understanding of risk as understood and communicated by general practitioners (GPs). Risk is experienced and interpreted by people in a cultural context, i.e. the same objective risk can be perceived in many different ways and given a different meaning in daily life. GPs' evaluation of risk is made on the basis of our epidemiological knowledge, the medical culture of risk perception and the GP's personal experience and interpretation. The theoretical focus in the article is a synthesis of two theories: patient-centred general practice and theory based in anthropology about risk as culturally and socially constructed. We use empirical data from a qualitative study to illuminate the discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective:Little is known about how strategies of retaining patients are acted out by general practitioners (GPs) in the clinical encounter. With this study, we apply Grimens’ (2009) analytical connection between trust and power to explore how trust and power appear in preventive health checks from the GPs’ perspectives, and in what way trust and power affect and/or challenge strategies towards retaining patients without formal education. Design:Data in this study were obtained through semi-structured interviews with GPs participating in an intervention project, as well as observations of clinical encounters. Results:From the empirical data, we identified three dimensions of respect: respect for the patient’s autonomy, respect for professional authority and respect as a mutual exchange. A balance of respect influenced trust in the relationship between GP and patients and the transfer of power in the encounter. The GPs articulated that a balance was needed in preventive health checks in order to establish trust and thus retain the patient in the clinic. One way this balance of respect was carried out was with the use of humour. Conclusions:To retain patients without formal education in the clinical encounter, the GPs balanced trust and power executed through three dimensions of respect. In this study, retaining patients was equivalent to maintaining a trusting relationship. A strategic use of the three dimensions of respect was applied to balance trust and power and thus build or maintain a trusting relationship with patients.KEY POINTS  Little is known about how strategies for retaining patients are acted out by GPs in preventive health checks. •  Retaining patients requires a balance of trust and power, which is executed through three dimensions of respect by the GPs. •  Challenges of recruiting and retaining patients in public health initiatives might be associated with the balance of respect. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Presents reply to comments by Kristiansen et al. on the problems implicit in risk communication. Issue related to difference in perceptions towards dealing with risk; Effectiveness of quoting numbers and percentages regarding diagnosis to patients; Responsibilities of general practitioners in communicating risk information.

Objective.The aim of this study is to analyse the interaction between patients and GPs in preventive consultations with an emphasis on how patients answer GPs’ questions about lifestyle, and the conditions these answers impose on the process of establishing agreement about lifestyle as a problem or not.Design.Six general practitioners (GPs) video-recorded 15 annual preventive consultations. From these, 32 excerpts of discussions about lifestyle were analysed using conversation analysis (CA).Results.GPs used an interview format to assess risk in patients’ lifestyles. In some cases patients adhered to this format and answered the GPs’ questions, but in many cases patients gave what we have termed “anticipatory answers”. These answers indicate that the patients anticipate a response from their GPs that would highlight problems with their lifestyle. Typically, in an anticipatory answer, patients bypass the interview format to give their own evaluation of their lifestyle and GPs accept this evaluation. In cases of “no-problem” answers from patients, GPs usually encouraged patients by adding support for current habits.Conclusion.Patients anticipated that GPs might assess their lifestyles as problematic and they incorporated this possibility into their responses. They thereby controlled the definition of their lifestyle as a problem or not. GPs generally did not use the information provided in these answers as a resource for further discussion, but rather relied on standard interview procedures. Staying within the patients’ frame of reference and using the patients’ anticipatory answers might provide GPs with a better point of departure for discussion regarding lifestyle. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective. To explore views and attitudes among general practitioners (GPs) and researchers in the field of general practice towards problems and challenges related to treatment of patients with multimorbidity. Setting. A workshop entitled Patients with multimorbidity in general practice held during the Nordic Congress of General Practice in Tampere, Finland, 2013. Subjects. A total of 180 GPs and researchers. Design. Data for this summary report originate from audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim plenary discussions as well as 76 short questionnaires answered by attendees during the workshop. The data were analysed using framework analysis. Results. (i) Complex care pathways and clinical guidelines developed for single diseases were identified as very challenging when handling patients with multimorbidity; (ii) insufficient cooperation between the professionals involved in the care of multimorbid patients underlined the GPs' impression of a fragmented health care system; (iii) GPs found it challenging to establish a good dialogue and prioritize problems with patients within the timeframe of a normal consultation; (iv) the future role of the GP was discussed in relation to diminishing health inequality, and current payment systems were criticized for not matching the treatment patterns of patients with multimorbidity. Conclusion. The participants supported the development of a future research strategy to improve the treatment of patients with multimorbidity. Four main areas were identified, which need to be investigated further to improve care for this steadily growing patient group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]