BACKGROUND Many patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) need and want improved emotional and psychological support. Explicit attention to patients' emotional issues during consultations can help, yet renal consultants rarely address emotional problems. This qualitative study aimed to evaluate whether two different low-cost interventions could individually enable consultants to talk with pa...

This paper examines the use of market consultants and market information systems by grain and cotton producers. A model of producer demand for marketing information and consultants is proposed that decomposes price received into exogenous and endogenous components. The analysis is based on a survey of over 1,600 producers. The results suggest that expenditures on market information systems and ...

OBJECTIVE To examine the strength of hospital consultants' preferences for various aspects of their work. DESIGN Questionnaire survey including a discrete choice experiment. SETTING NHS Scotland. PARTICIPANTS 2923 hospital consultants in Scotland. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Monetary valuations or prices for each job characteristic, based on consultants' willingness to pay and willingness to ...

Background: This study explores how educationally valuable work-based assessments (WBAs) are to surgical trainees and trainers and whether there are barriers to learning? Methods: A questionnaire was sent to orthopaedic trainees and consultants within the Severn Deanery. Results: Ninety-five percent (61) of consultants and 75% (46) of trainees responded. Twenty-one (34%) consultants and 18 (39%...

The aims of this study were to elicit general practitioner (GP) trainee's perceptions of the educational structure of their hospital posts, to compare them with those of consultants who had GP trainees as senior house officers (SHOs) in their departments and to examine the use of educational objectives in the hospital component of vocational training for general practice. A confidential postal ...

With constrained public money, a growing focus arises on doctors’ key role in reducing variation in processes and outcomes and improving value in healthcare, especially how money is spent and what it delivers in outcomes that matter to patients and system efficiencies. Earlier this year John Appleby published an analysis in The BMJ comparing current and historical productivity of NHS consultant...