BACKGROUND The number of out-of-hours calls to general practitioners (GPs) has increased steadily during the past 20 years. The proportion of inappropriate calls are reportedly increasing but we know very little about how GPs judge a call to be appropriate or inappropriate. AIM To determine the factors that influence GPs' perceptions of the appropriateness or inappropriateness of out-of-hours...

results there were minor differences in treatment preferences for graves’ disease in pregnancy and tests to monitor antithyroid drugs between endocrinologists and generalists; the major difference being targeted free thyroxin, and also thyroxin, depicted in the upper end of normal range, by the majority of endocrinologist and within the normal range, by generalists. compared to generalists, end...

OBJECTIVES To compare patients' and general practitioners' (GPs') evaluations of the quality of general practice care. DESIGN Written surveys among patients and GPs. SETTING General practice in the Netherlands. SUBJECTS 1772 patients (from 45 GPs) and a random sample of 315 GPs. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Patients' and GPs' evaluations of 23 aspects of general practice care and GPs' percepti...

The purpose of this study was to explore factors that facilitate or hinder effective use of computers in Australian general medical practice. This study is based on data extracted from a national telephone survey of 480 general practitioners (GPs) across Australia. Clinical functions performed by GPs using computers were examined using a zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) regression modelling. About 1...

INTRODUCTION The aim of the present study was to explore the current use of supervision groups and the value of such groups for today's Danish general practitioners (GPs). MATERIAL AND METHODS A questionnaire was sent to a representative sample comprising 10% of GPs registered with the Organisation of General Practitioners in Denmark. RESULTS More than 60% of Danish GPs have participated in...

BACKGROUND Chinese medicine practitioners (CMPs) play an important part in rural and regional Australian healthcare. A survey was conducted to investigate referral practices between Chinese medicine (CM) and conventional primary health care practitioners in this region. METHODS A 27-item questionnaire was sent to all 1486 general practitioners (GPs) currently practising in rural and regional ...

BACKGROUND There has been much research into factors that can be modified to improve the response rates of general practitioners to surveys and to the demographic characteristics of those who do and do not respond. However, response is yet to be considered with respect to the quality of clinical care provided by GPs. In the UK, one measure of quality of care is the Quality and Outcomes Framewor...

Formal training programmes in psychiatry for general practitioners (GPs) by Psychiatrists so far reported have involved MBBS graduates. But, a considerable proportion of registered medical practitioners who serve the community are non-MBBS about whose training needs, no experience is yet available. This paper describes a training programme in which an attempt was made to know the training needs...

BACKGROUND French general practitioners (GPs) refer their patients with major depression to psychiatrists or for psychotherapy at particularly low rates. OBJECTIVES This qualitative study aims to explore general practitioners' (GP) opinions about psychotherapy, their relationships with mental health professionals, their perceptions of their role and that of psychiatrists in treating depressio...