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How French general practitioners adapt their care to patients with social difficulties?

ABSTRACT: Objective:Several studies have shown the role of the primary care system in access to care and in reducing social inequalities in health. The objective of this study was to describe the practices of general practitioners (GPs) in taking into account the social environment of their patient, and the ways they adapted to social difficulties. Design:Qualitative study comprising interviews and focus groups. Setting:French primary care settings. Participants:Twenty semistructured interviews and two focus groups were conducted with 33 GPs. Sessions were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. The reporting of findings was guided by consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research. Result:This study identified adaptations at three levels: in the individual management of patients (alert system, full involvement in prevention, better communication, prioritised additional examinations, financial facilities, help in administrative tasks), in the collective management of patients in an office (consultation without appointment, pay-for-performance indicators, medical staffs, multidisciplinary protocols, medical practice in group, medical student), and in the community management (patients description, cooperation with associations, public health sector and politics). Conclusion:In France, GPs can take into account the social determinants of health in practice through simple or more complex actions.

SUBMITTER: De Oliveira A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6910763 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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How French general practitioners adapt their care to patients with social difficulties?

De Oliveira Annie A Chavannes Barbara B Steinecker Magali M Denantes Mady M Chastang Julie J Ibanez Gladys G

Family medicine and community health 20191103 4

<h4>Objective</h4>Several studies have shown the role of the primary care system in access to care and in reducing social inequalities in health. The objective of this study was to describe the practices of general practitioners (GPs) in taking into account the social environment of their patient, and the ways they adapted to social difficulties.<h4>Design</h4>Qualitative study comprising interviews and focus groups.<h4>Setting</h4>French primary care settings.<h4>Participants</h4>Twenty semistr ...[more]

PMID: 32148723

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Project description:BackgroundCervical cancer screening is effective in reducing mortality due to uterine cervical cancer (UCC). However, inequalities in participation in UCC screening exist, especially according to age and social status. Considering the current situation in France regarding the ongoing organized UCC screening campaign, we aimed to assess general practitioners' (GPs) and gynaecologists' preferences for actions designed to reduce screening inequalities.MethodsFrench physicians' preferences to UCC screening modalities was assessed using a discrete choice experiment. A national cross-sectional questionnaire was sent between September and October 2014 to 500 randomly selected physicians, and numerically to all targeted physicians working in the French region Midi-Pyrénées. Practitioners were offered 11 binary choices of organized screening scenarios in order to reduce inequalities in UCC screening participation. Each scenario was based on five attributes corresponding to five ways to enhance participation in UCC screening while reducing screening inequalities.ResultsAmong the 123 respondents included, practitioners voted for additional interventions targeting non-screened women overall (p < 0.05), including centralized invitations sent from a central authority and involving the mentioned attending physician, or providing attending physicians with the lists of unscreened women among their patients. However, they rejected the specific targeting of women over 50 years old (p < 0.01) or living in deprived areas (p < 0.05). Only GPs were in favour of allowing nurses to perform Pap smears, but both GPs and gynaecologists rejected self-collected oncogenic papillomavirus testing.ConclusionsFrench practitioners tended to value the traditional principle of universalism. As well as rejecting self-collected oncogenic papillomavirus testing, their reluctance to support the principle of proportionate universalism relying on additional interventions addressing differences in socioeconomic status needs further evaluation. As these two concepts have already been recommended as secondary development leads for the French national organized screening campaign currently being implemented, the adherence of practitioners and the adaptation of these concepts are necessary conditions for reducing inequalities in health care.

Project description:We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of burnout among French general practitioners in private practice and to study the risk and protective factors of burnout. A nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted with French GPs working in a private practice in France who were asked to fulfil an internet questionnaire. We used the secure internet application REDCap®. Exclusion criteria were only working in a hospital, substitute doctors, and internship students. There was a putative sample size of 88,886 GPs. We retrieved the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), occupational characteristics (type of installation, emergency regulated shifts, night shifts, university supervisor, weekly hours worked, seniority), and personal characteristics such as age, gender, marital status, and number of children. We included 1926 GPs among the 2602 retrieved questionnaires. A total of 44.8% of French liberal GPs were experiencing burnout, with 4.8% (95%CI 3.9-5.9%) experiencing severe burnout. The risk factors of severe burnout were male gender (RR = 1.91, 95%CI 1.15-3.16), working in a suburban area (5.23, 2.18-12.58), and having more than 28 appointments per day (1.95, 1.19-3.19). Working more than 50 h weekly showed a tendency to increase the risk of severe burnout (1.55, 0.93-2.59, p = 0.095), with a significant increase in the risk of low and moderate burnout (1.31, 1.02-1.67 and 1.86, 1.34-2.57, respectively). Protective factors were mainly resident training, which decreased the risk of both low, moderate, and severe burnout (0.65, 0.51-0.83; 0.66, 0.48-0.92; and 0.42, 95%CI 0.23-0.76, respectively). Performing home visits decreased the risk of severe burnout (0.25, 0.13-0.47), as did group practice for intermediate level of burnout (0.71, 0.51-0.96). GPs are at a high risk of burnout, with nearly half of them in burnout, with burnout predominantly affecting males and those between the ages of 50 and 60 years old. The main risk factors were a high workload with more than 28 appointments per day or 50 h of work per week, and the main protective factors were related to social cohesion such having a teaching role and working in a group practice with back-office support.

Project description:AimsHow general practitioners (GPs) manage dyskalaemia is currently unknown. This study aimed at describing GP practices regarding hypokalaemia or hyperkalaemia diagnosis and management in their outpatients.Methods and resultsA telephone survey was conducted among French GPs with a 20-item questionnaire (16 closed-ended questions and 12 open-ended questions) regarding their usual management of hypokalaemia or hyperkalaemia patients, both broadly and more specifically in patients with heart failure and/or chronic kidney disease and/or in patients treated with angiotensin-converting enzyme/angiotensin receptor blockers or mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists. We aimed to interview 500 GPs spread geographically throughout France. This descriptive survey results are presented as mean ± standard deviation (if normally distributed or as median and inter-quartile range if the distribution was skewed). Categorical variables are expressed as frequencies and proportions (%). A total of 500 GPs participated in the study. Dyskalaemia thresholds (for diagnosis and intervention) and management patterns were highly heterogeneous. The mean ± SD (range) potassium level leading to 'intervene' was 5.32 ± 0.34 mmol/L (4.5-6.5) for hyperkalaemia and 3.23 ± 0.34 mmol/L (2.0-6.5) for hypokalaemia. Potassium levels leading to refer the patient to the emergency department (ED) were 6.14 ± 0.55 (4.5-10) and 2.69 ± 0.42 mmol/L (1-4), respectively. Potassium binders (51-65%) or potassium supplements (67-74%) were frequently used to manage hyperkalaemia or hypokalaemia. GPs uncommonly referred their dyskalaemic patients to cardiologists or nephrologists (or to the emergency department, if the latter was deemed necessary owing to the severity of the dyskalaemia). We identified an association between the close vicinity of GP office from an ED and 'referring a heart failure patient' (19.2% with ED vs. 8.6% without ED) and referring a heart failure and chronic kidney disease patient on mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (16.7% with ED vs. 9.3% without ED). Although the majority (67%) of GPs had an electrocardiogram on hand, it was rarely used (14%) in dyskalaemic patients. Subgroup analyses considering gender, age of the participating GPs, and high-income/low-income regions did not identify specific patterns regarding the multidimensional aspect of dyskalaemia management.ConclusionsOwing to the considerable heterogeneity of French GP practices toward dyskalaemia diagnosis and management approaches, there is a likely need to standardize (potentially enabled by therapeutic algorithms) practices.

Project description:BackgroundGeneral practitioners (GPs) have a key role to play in suicide prevention, but the rates at which they question patients with depression about suicidal thoughts and plans are rather low. Little is known about GPs' characteristics associated with such inquiries. Our objectives were to describe GPs' attitudes, perceived barriers, and self-reported practices in this questioning of these patients and to analyze factors associated with these practices.MethodologyThis cross-sectional survey was conducted among participants in a panel of randomly selected French GPs (1249/1431 participated: 87.3%). GPs were interviewed with a standardized questionnaire covering their professional and personal characteristics, attitudes, and practices in exploring the suicide risk of their patients with depression. We built a suicide inquiry score by summing the responses to 5 items and used a multiple linear regression analysis to explore the characteristics associated with this score.Principal findingsMost GPs reported inquiring about the presence of suicidal ideation often or very often; less than 30% reported that they frequently explored signs of a specific suicide plan. The mean suicide inquiry score was 12.4 (SD, 2.9; range, 5-20). False ideas, such as thinking that patients who report suicidal ideas do not often commit suicide, were frequent (42.3%). Previous continuing medical education on suicide, participation in a formal mental health network, and patients who committed suicide in the past 5 years were associated with a higher score. Reluctance to question patients about suicide and perception of insufficient skill were associated with a lower score.Conclusions/significanceThis study showed great variability in French GPs' practices in exploring suicide risk in patients with depression. Interventions aiming at improving GPs' initial training and continuing medical education in suicide and/or depression, and their collaboration with mental health specialists should be developed, and their impacts assessed.

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How French general practitioners adapt their care to patients with social difficulties?

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How French general practitioners adapt their care to patients with social difficulties?

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