Cooperation between general practitioners and occupational health physicians in Germany: how can it be optimised? A qualitative study.
OBJECTIVE
General practitioners (GPs) and occupational health physicians (OPs) have several overlapping work fields, such as important functions in prevention, rehabilitation and reintegration into the workplace. In Germany, however, cooperation between GP and OP is often lacking or suboptimal. In this article, we analysed the suggestions for optimisation of cooperation.


METHODS
Three focus groups were interviewed: GP, OP and medical doctors working in both fields. A qualitative content analysis was performed.


RESULTS
Categories of suggestions could be assigned to five issues: the "Systemic View" concerning the state and/or employer (e.g. the system of remuneration for GPs), "Inter-collegial Contact" (e.g. fostering "friendly exchanges" between both groups), "Medical Education" (e.g. introducing joint quality circles), "Contents of both Specialities" (e.g. necessity of communicating respective contents and competences), and "Patient-centred Care" (e.g. reintegration into workplace after longer periods of illness). The optimisation of cooperation was considered necessary by the OPs, whereas its necessity was sometimes questioned in the GPs' group.


CONCLUSIONS
In many aspects, the present data agree with results of studies from other countries addressing the cooperation between GPs and OPs and/or other specialists. Many suggestions obtained in this study are practical and could be implemented into daily routine. Future quantitative research is required to better assess the relative weight of the suggestions presented here.
Division of General Practice/Family Medicine, University Hospital Tübingen, Österbergstraße 9, 72074, Tübingen, Germany, dirk.mosshammer@uni-tuebingen.de.
Dirk
D
Moßhammer
Iris
I
Natanzon
Ira
I
Manske
Philipp
P
Grutschkowski
Monika A
MA
Rieger
D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000193:education; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D008297:Male; D008332:Management Quality Circles; D016272:Occupational Health; D009787:Occupational Medicine / Q000193:education; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D036301:Qualitative Research