title: Swedish general practitioners' practice behaviour in hypertension care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine care organization and practice behaviour in hypertension care among Swedish general practitioners.
  
  
  METHODS
  A postal questionnaire followed by a structured interview, in a two-step study design.
  
  
  METHODS
  Uppsala-Orebro region in mid-Sweden (population 1.9 mill.)
  
  
  METHODS
  General practitioners employed by counties, according to a register maintained by the Swedish Medical Association (N = 489).
  
  
  METHODS
  Practice behaviour score compared with a gold standard.
  
  
  RESULTS
  392 general practitioners returned the questionnaire, and the interview was accomplished with 222 of 232 who agreed to participate. Non-responder studies were carried out in both steps. Every fifth GP had access to a special hypertension clinic at their health centre, and 29% had specially trained nurses for hypertension care. 31% reported use of written guidelines. 47% declared they accepted higher BP-levels than recommended, although 78% agreed with official guidelines. The mean practice behaviour score was 8,77 (range 5-12, maximum score 12).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although a majority of GPs agree with official guidelines, there is a considerable variation in care organization and practice behaviour in hypertension care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ribacke
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000628:therapy*; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D010821:Physicians, Family; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden