Collecting and registering sexual health information in the context of HIV risk in the electronic medical record of general practitioners: a qualitative exploration of the preference of general practitioners in urban communities in Flanders (Belgium).
Background and aim Current health-care delivery requires increasingly proactive and inter-professional work. Therefore, collecting patient information and knowledge management is of paramount importance. General practitioners (GPs) are well placed to lead these evolving models of care delivery. However, it is unclear how they are handling these changes. To gain an insight into this matter, the HIV epidemic was chosen as a test case.



Data were collected and analysed from 13 semi-structured interviews with GPs, working in urban communities in Flanders. Findings GPs use various types of patient information to estimate patients' risk of HIV. The way in which sexual health information is collected and registered, depends on the type of information under discussion. General patient information and medical history data are often automatically collected and registered. Proactively collecting sexual health information is uncommon. Moreover, the registration of the latter is not obvious, mostly owing to insufficient space in the electronic medical record (EMR).



GPs seem willing to systematically collect and register sexual health information, in particular about HIV-risk factors. They expressed a need for guidance together with practical adjustments of the EMR to adequately capture and share this information.
1School of Health and Social Care,College of Social Science,Community and Health Research Unit,University of Lincoln,Lincoln,UK.
Jolien
J
Vos
2Department of Family Medicine and Primary Health Care,Ghent University,Belgium.
Peter
P
Pype
3Belgian Scientific Institute of Public Health,Brussels,Belgium.
Jessika
J
Deblonde
4Sensoa,Antwerp,Belgium.
Sandra
S
Van den Eynde
2Department of Family Medicine and Primary Health Care,Ghent University,Belgium.
Karolien
K
Aelbrecht
2Department of Family Medicine and Primary Health Care,Ghent University,Belgium.
Myriam
M
Deveugele
2Department of Family Medicine and Primary Health Care,Ghent University,Belgium.
Dirk
D
Avonts
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001530:Belgium; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060728:Reproductive Health; D019037:Urban Health Services
communication in health care; proactive sexual health; sensitive information; sexual risk behaviour