title: Reasons for encounter in young people consulting a family doctor in the French speaking part of Switzerland: a cross sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Knowledge of patient's reasons for encounter is useful to inform health service planning and health professional education. Our aim was to describe reasons for encounter as stated by an unselected group of young people attending primary care practices in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.
  
  
  METHODS
  Consecutive patients aged between 15 and 24 years were recruited as part of the PRISM-Ado trial (n = 594). They completed an anonymous questionnaire in the waiting room, including their main reason for encounter (free text). Reasons for encounter were coded using ICPC-2 classification and analyzed according to sex, age and living in a rural or urban area.
  
  
  RESULTS
  95 % of questionnaires contained valid data about reasons for encounter (n = 567). General and unspecific (A) reasons were the most common in boys (44 %) and girls (42 %), followed by respiratory, musculoskeletal, dermatological and psychological reasons. Psychological reasons were more frequent in girls attending urban practices; musculoskeletal and dermatological reasons were more frequent in rural areas. Sexually transmitted infections or substance use were very rarely stated as a reason for encounter.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first study describing reasons for encounter as stated by young people themselves in primary care in Switzerland. These findings provide useful guidance for family doctors training and health service planning in Europe.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12608000432314 .
authors.affiliation: Adolescent and young adult program, Department of Child and Adolescent Health, Geneva University Hospitals, 87 Bvd de la Cluse, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland. anne.meynard@hcuge.ch.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meynard
authors.affiliation: Dependencies unit, Division of primary care, Department of Community Medicine, Primary Care and Emergency, Geneva University Hospitals, 4 rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil, 1211, Geneva, 14, Switzerland. Barbara.Broers@hcuge.ch.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Broers
authors.affiliation: , Private general practice 93 Route de Suisse, 1290, Versoix, Switzerland. Daniele.Lefebvre@hin.ch.
authors.forename: Danièle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lefebvre
authors.affiliation: Adolescent and young adult program, Department of Child and Adolescent Health, Geneva University Hospitals, 87 Bvd de la Cluse, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland. Francoise.Narring@hcuge.ch.
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Narring
authors.affiliation: Adolescent and young adult program, Department of Child and Adolescent Health, Geneva University Hospitals, 87 Bvd de la Cluse, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland. Dagmar.Haller-Hester@hcuge.ch.|Primary care research and teaching unit. Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva CMU, 9 av de Champel, 1211, Geneva, Switzerland. Dagmar.Haller-Hester@hcuge.ch.
authors.forename: Dagmar M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Haller
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013557:Switzerland; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult