Influence of social problems on management in general practice: multipractice questionnaire survey.
OBJECTIVE
To find how often social problems influence clinical management in general practice, how management is changed, and how the characteristics of patients, doctors, and the doctor-patient relationship influence this management.


METHODS
Multipractice survey of patients consulting general practitioners. Doctors completed a questionnaire for each patient.


METHODS
General practices in Buskerud county, Norway.


METHODS
1401 consecutive adult patients attending 89 general practitioners.


METHODS
How often management of patients was influenced by different types of social problem and main reasons for consultation; frequency and intercorrelation of different types of management applied; odds ratios for social problems' influence on management, controlled for by characteristics of doctors, patients, and their relationship.


RESULTS
In 17% of all consultations the doctors' knowledge of patients' social problems influenced their management, stressful working conditions being the most frequent influencing type of problem. Knowledge of social problems influenced management more often when the doctor knew a patient well, but less often the longer a doctor had worked in a practice. When social problems influenced management, the commonest types of management offered were extra time for consultation (51%), advice (42%), authorisation of sick leave (28%), and prescription of a psychotropic drug (20%), while referral to community services was used in 2.6% of these consultations. Prescription of a psychotropic drug was positively correlated with use of extra time, and was made more often by female doctors.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients' social problems influenced choice of management in at least a sixth of consultations. Prior knowledge of the patient, the doctor's time in present practice, age and sex of the patient, and sex of the doctor significantly influenced management of patients.
Gulbrandsen
P
P
Institute of General Practice and Community Medicine, University of Oslo, PO Box 1130 Blindern, N-0317 Oslo, Norway.
Fugelli
P
P
Sandvik
L
L
Hjortdahl
P
P
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005194:Family Practice / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009664:Norway; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011364:Professional Practice; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012940:Social Problems