How well do patient and general practitioner agree about the content of consultations?
OBJECTIVE
To analyse agreement between patients' and general practitioners' perception of content of consultations.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study based on paired questionnaires answered by patients and general practitioners (GPs).


METHODS
General practices in the County of Funen, Denmark.


METHODS
All 291 GPs in the County were invited to join the investigation, and 137 accepted. All patients who consulted the participating GPs in a 3 day period were included in the investigation. The GPs registered 6021 patients, of whom 3578 (59%) returned the completed questionnaire.


METHODS
GPs and patients were asked about the urgency of the consultation, number of problems presented, duration of consultation, and quality of communication. The GPs' and patients' answers were matched, and variables of agreement were made. Patients were furthermore asked about their satisfaction with the consultation.


CONCLUSIONS
Agreement for the four matched answers varied from 69% to 83%. Disagreement was observed more often in consultations where the patient's self-evaluated health was poor, the patient was female, had a chronic disease, expected a prescription or felt that the GP had little knowledge of his/her life circumstances. Agreement concerning urgency, number of problems and quality of communication was associated with a higher degree of patient satisfaction.
Fagerberg
C R
CR
Research Unit, Odense University, Denmark.
Kragstrup
J
J
Støvring
H
H
Rasmussen
N K
NK
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003142:Communication; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003718:Denmark; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires