title: Assessing fitness for work: GPs judgment making.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The complexity of a fitness for work consultation is well documented. General practitioners (GPs) find that such consultations often create conflict and they feel ill-prepared for the task.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to examine the consultation process in the fitness for work consultation and to report on the response of GPs to two hypothetical consultations of work related sickness absence, one of a psychological and one of a physical nature.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three areas of the consultation were examined; social/family circumstances, workplace history and information required assessing the severity of the condition. We used a randomized design using an online questionnaire completed by 62 GPs located in the Republic of Ireland. Analysis was conducted in NVivo 8 qualitative software using thematic and content analysis techniques.
  
  
  RESULTS
  GPs may be expected to collect and consider information relating to social, domestic, financial, lifestyle and workplace factors, including workload, job satisfaction, job strain, work ethic, inter staff relationships and employee support mechanisms. The mode of presentation may trigger specific information seeking in the consultation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  GPs may evaluate fitness for work in a variety of ways depending on medical and non-medical factors. Further research should further examine the factors that may influence the GPs decision to prescribe sickness leave.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health Research, University of Manchester , Manchester , UK.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Foley
authors.forename: Kevan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Thorley
authors.forename: Marie-Claire
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Van Hout
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018582:Sick Leave; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016526:Workload; D017132:Workplace