Abstract

Objective. Identify and describe general practitioners’ (GPs’) reflections on and attitudes to the referral process and cooperation with hospital specialists. Design. Qualitative study using semi-structured focus-group interviews with GPs analysed using Giorgi's method as modified by Malterud. Setting. Interviews conducted over four months from November 2010 to February 2011. Subjects. 17 female and 14 male GPs aged 29 to 61 years from 21 different practices, who had practised for 3–35 years. Main outcome measures. Description of GPs’ views on the referral process. Results. GPs wished for improved dialogue with the hospital specialists. The referral process was often considered as asymmetric and sometimes humiliating. GPs saw the benefit of using templates in the referral process, but were sceptical concerning the use of mandatory fixed formats. Conclusions. The referral process is essential for good patient care between general practice and specialist services. GPs consider referring as asymmetric and sometimes humiliating. The dichotomy between the wish for mutual dialogue and the convenience of using templates should be kept in mind when assuring quality of the referral process.

Details

Title
General practitioners’ reflections on referring: An asymmetric or non-dialogical process?
Author
Thorsen, Olav 1 ; Hartveit, Miriam 2 ; Baerheim, Anders 3 

 Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care,University of Bergen, Norway; Stavanger University Hospital,Stavanger, Norway 
 Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care,University of Bergen, Norway; Research Network of Integrated Care in Western Norway,Helse Fonna HF, Haugesund,Norway 
 Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care,University of Bergen, Norway 
End page
246
Publication year
2012
Publication date
Dec 2012
Publisher
Taylor & Francis LLC
ISSN
02813432
e-ISSN
15027724
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2199202120
Copyright
© 2012 Informa Healthcare. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.