PDF hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen The following full text is a publisher's version. For additional information about this publication click this link. http://hdl.handle.net/2066/25666 Please be advised that this information was generated on 2015-01-23 and may be subject to change. ORIGINAL PAPER D o g e n e r a l p r a c titio n e r a ttitu d e s a n d c h a r a c te r is tic s o f th e ir p r a c tic e s e x p la in p a tte r n s o f s p e c ia lis t r e fe r r a l ? Martin Roland, Jeremy Grimshaw, Richard Grol, David Shanks, Anthony Johnson, Ian Russell, Ross Taylor Objectives: To describe attitudes of general practition­ ers to their work, and to relate these to characteristics of their practices and to rates of specialist referral. M ethods: Data were collected from 109 Scottish gen­ eral practitioners. Questionnaires were used to meas­ ure doctors perceptions of their responsibilities, their tolerance of uncertainty, their perception of benefits resulting from specialist referral, and perception of the incidence of a range of conditions which might require specialist referral. Rates of specialist referral were measured prospectively over a one-year period. Results: There was wide variation in the responses to all questionnaires. More developed practices (e.g. com­ puterised, with access to hospital beds) reported a greater sense of responsibility for the care of their own patients, and perceived less benefit from specialist referral. Doctors who perceived serious disease as relatively uncommon and those who saw themselves as M artin Roland, director of research and development. N ational Primary Care Research and D evelopm ent Centre, 5th Floor , Williamson Building , University o f Manchester, O xford R o a d , M anchester M 13 6PL, United Kingdom. Jeremy Grimshaw, programme director. Health Services Research Unit , University o f Aberdeen, D epartm ent o f General Practice , Forsterhill Health Centre , Aberdeen AB9 2A4, United Kingdom. Richard Grol, professor of general practice. University o f Nijmegen, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, the Netherlands. David Shanks, reader in experimental psychology. University College, G ow er Street, London WC1 E 4BT, United Kingdom. Anthony Johnson» medical statistician. M RC Biostatistics Unit> Forvie Site , Cambridge CB2 2SR, United K in gdom . Ian Russell, professor of health sciences. University o f York, D epartm ent o f Health Sciences, Heslington, York Y O l 5 D D , United Kingdom. Ross Taylor, senior lecturer in general practice. University o f Aberdeen, D epartm ent o f General Practice, Forsterhill Health Centre , Aberdeen A B 9 2A 4, United Kingdom. * i Correspondence to: Professor M Roland. Submitted: i 1th M arch '1997; accepted in revised form: 8 th October 1997. European Journal of General Practice, Volume 3, December 1997 responsible for a wide range of conditions referred fewer patients to specialists. Doctors working in prac­ tices which conducted regular audits and those who had access to hospital beds also referred fewer patients to specialists. Conclusions: Attitudes of general practitioners to their roles, and the types of practice in which they work, are related to their use of hospital specialists. If, as in the UK at present, general practitioners take an increasingly restricted view of their ccore responsibilities’, this could increase the numbers of patients referred to spe­ cialists. However the results of this study are also con­ sistent with the view that, given appropriate practice development, general practitioners could carry out a greater proportion of work which is currently referred to specialists. Eu r j Gen Tract 1997;3:143-7. Introduction There is wide variation in the rates at which individual gen­ eral practitioners refer patients to specialists. Although some of this variation is due to chance,1previous research suggests that some of the variation in individual doctors5 referral behaviour may be related to their work satisfac­ tion,2their willingness to take risks,3their individual clin­ ical skills,4’5their response to pressure from patients,6and the context in which the referral decision is made.™ In most studies it has not been possible to explain more than a modest proportion of the variation in terms of character­ istics of the doctors, their practices, or their patients.'0,11 In many countries, it is policy to move a greater propor­ tion of care from the secondary sector to primary care. The success of such moves may depend on the willingness of general practitioners to take on new roles. In the UK, in­ creasing movement of care from secondary to primary sec­ tors has led to conflict between general practitioners and the government about the tasks which should be carried out in general practice. The attitudes of general practition­ ers to their roles and responsibilities is an important fac­ tor which will need to be taken into account. Better understanding of these attitudes will help to improve the organisation of care at the interface between primary and secondary care. 143 r* \ a = a/ì .? < ? > F '\ < v> ^c cH - ? i 'ii v * ^ ìwwììS * *J_ J A ti :^ n v w K tf: V ■ w 1 /* i/% —» -V * ■? t f 1j * ■ ita ^ B a e i^ « nevai•&*&*■ sja ? ¡BW(Jy S_ - c* S ì ¿ T i;1 iT ^ — •T ^cr c o fM — -r * 1n •W è • li . - w * -^É? Q W — K' $ ¿tr*?? v- = ^ « <= ir * f \V>»^»'- ■'. » — , *i » : • ■ ì-A - V a » - ,^ r' (. -x- è . 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'V* w ww y n f_w w < m yn»n">.n » i"11111 — r r iT ir i- ii-------- -----------r - i - i ---------- r - T T r ^ i T f t " .............................. *......... .................................................................................................................................... ................ mean score computerised: 36,6, not Appendix te.ri.sed 40 of uncertainty Questionnaire to measure (Statements 1-5 from Grol «un »»«WMMPWWaUMIWWIWWHH i-p C l of f * f t *-~4 Ì .1, A%«*V %_ ƒ \J * / * <*,,,/ ^ ♦0*0) WWW' nee in c IV. i o n in ta The responses to this questionnaire ai There were no significant re to these questionnaires arid any of the available doctor oi ¡ifHWwmnJiip riyiw ffj fcr^iexiiÿtwfiWBea Respondents recorded agreement/disagreement with the follow ing statements on a five-point scale: • When in doubt it is preferable to refer to a specialist than to wait and see. A GP must not take any risks with physica ness As far as physical complaints are concerned, a GP should do everything possible to find out the cause of the complaint. er the certain to the uncertain A GP must * As a GP, you must always be aware that each complaint can be the start of a serious i ness GPs should be more prepared than other doctors to be uncertain about a diagnosis. practice, treatment often has to start without a clear diagnosis l.vWl *h«ri v ,.^ <a y* V. Associations wi Wi 'es or rere tra » rom 6 1 to 344 t rrais per ra 51 genera year, and for th •Ï « c ollected, T) where w o r data e regression 1.00 con. sul tat ions. In the mu * * i i ii n m ant associ. a bers of patients referred, two of the questionnaire two practice f c < y m as a factor in multiple WOÎ s of e ), n u n i a lysis (available for less than half aC't of con referrals were significantly related to the n ility for hospital sultations., to the practice having respc: incidence of r is e a s e beds, and to the The proportion, of variance in numbers of pa (t a b 1e o was tients referred >r increased to ber of consultations Va r ia s of the practicedoctor-rel; consultations in Rates of referral were 3.5 practices with access to s 37% of practices in this pre rural ai: 4.2 referrals/1 in those without una di usted mean to scores on the serious i scale doctors with referral rates in the om quarti les were 36.6 and 39.9. In the s is usineC list serious i is relatively i.a c lower rates of referral to hosnita w a those .ving in practices which carried regular c table 4). The unac mean s es on the per ity scale s with referra 47 the top and bottom quartiles were 50.9 n Rates of r •jftn j / 4'# 3, *" t" 4 ■ f& n \s & rfn.' í items were scored 1 (strongly 5 (strongly disagree), except items 6 and 7 which were scored in the reverse direction. (Ht ■fi /A /•dM Referral data were available for 104 (88%) doctors . Extent J 1* ' of g e n e ra c ti tí o rie rs ’ resp o ns * ì Fhe responses to this questionnaire are shown in table Doctors believed that they should have a wider range of responsibilities if they came from practices having resp onsibility for hospital beds (mean score 45.9 (beds), 50.8 (no zxit* e n c e = l.4-8.4, p=0.001 o r beds) 11 OI worked in computerised practices (mean score 4 .0 c o m 5 6.2 (n o t c o m p u terised), CI o f d iffe r en c e= 1.9 0.004) 13.9 Using scores on the tolerance of uncertainty scale in the ap , trainers were more tolerant of uncertainty (mean score trainers: 24.1, non. trainers: 21.1, Cl of difference 2.3-3.7, p=0.017), as were doctors who saw smaller num. bers of patients each week (p=0.002). iet its ms * Òt referral /t¡¡ K.i The responses to this questionnaire are shown in table 2, Doctors in computerised practices perceived less benefit 146 ■5s../ yy-fit Vt> itm * ^ V V J ? * ■# ** w ^ j y ? 7 'Srfc’V / J« % ^ .-.7 European Journal of General Practice, Volume 3 , December 1997 >é=p^ "■,jssa'iayì ^>H!«Si* 'w^ $K0&$ /T, »ìiiwà -“g^*% ^ìniS9BH «/:■ -<> ‘nfìiììrriiìifi-tf ■ > t '= W ì g . « «ii n r ^ * ^ M i * Cw V ^ » ì w is. jiè j * 3-. •* % «f J. 5^. ; £“*4 < ^Ù U K % v4 /" v * « e \ *? 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