What do patients want from doctors? Content analysis of written patient agendas for the consultation.

BACKGROUND

Although much has been written about what patients want when they contact their general practitioner (GP), there are no published data from large cohort studies of what patients expect.

AIM

To describe the expectations of a large group of patients who consulted with their GPs.

METHOD

A GP and a social sciences graduate carried out a content analysis of written agenda forms completed by 819 patients who consulted 46 randomly selected GPs. Inter- and intra-rater reliabilities were confirmed.

RESULTS

A total of 756 (92%) agenda forms were returned. Inter-rater reliability was satisfactory (kappa > 0.6 for all but two main themes). Almost all patients had requests they wished to make of their doctor, 60% had their own ideas about what was wrong, and 38% had considered explanations about why they were unwell. Forty-two per cent and 24% of patients had consulted because they had reached the limit of their anxiety or tolerance respectively. Seven per cent, 4%, and 2% had comments, which were usually negative, to make about previous management, communication with doctors, or time in the consultation.

CONCLUSION

These data demonstrate that most patients come to the consultation with a particular agenda. Failure to address this agenda is likely to adversely affect the outcome of many consultations.