title: A culture of care: the French approach to cardiovascular risk factor management.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to describe French primary care physicians' beliefs about cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and best practices for managing CVD.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study comprised a purposive convenience sample of 656 primary care physicians in France, recruited from contacts made through the French Society of General Medicine. We compiled the physicians' responses to free text questions taken from an Internet-based survey and analyzed them using a qualitative approach. Physician's responses were inductively analyzed using content analysis. Responses were thematically coded, tabulated, and computed for frequencies. Overall themes and verbatim examples are presented in this article.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The French physicians in our study are generally happy with their country's health care system and cite equity as the primary reason. Interestingly, along with food and lifestyle differences, they also cite equity of their health system as the reason for the lower CVD death rate in France, Japan, and Israel compared with the United States. The physicians believe that they are successful at managing CVD risk factors by emphasizing aspects of the doctor-patient relationship, including spending more time with patients and focusing on education.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Physicians who are on the front line of care and management offer a fresh perspective on best practices for CVD prevention and management. The equity of the French health care system supports a "culture of care" in France that might lead to better outcomes for CVD risk factor patients than in the United States.
authors: Center for Global Health, University of Georgia, Athens, France. acole2@u.washington.edu
authors: Colleen
authors: C
authors: O'Brien Cherry
authors: Olivier
authors: O
authors: Steichen
authors: Anjali
authors: A
authors: Mathew
authors: Didier
authors: D
authors: Duhot
authors: Gilles
authors: G
authors: Hebbrecht
authors: Richard J
authors: RJ
authors: Schuster
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D007564:Japan; D008875:Middle Aged; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D058007:Physicians, Primary Care / Q000523:psychology*; D011322:Primary Prevention; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States