RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Why are clinical problems difficult? General practitioners' opinions concerning 24 clinical problems
JF Canadian Medical Association Journal
JO CMAJ
FD Canadian Medical Association
SP 1305
OP 1315
VO 143
IS 12
A1 H. Leclere
A1 M. D. Beaulieu
A1 G. Bordage
A1 A. Sindon
A1 M. Couillard
YR 1990
UL http://www.cmaj.ca/content/143/12/1305.abstract
AB This study was conducted to describe the difficulties perceived by general practitioners concerning 24 common clinical problems and to compare their perceptions with those of faculty members in family medicine. A random sample of 467 general practitioners and all 182 faculty members in family medicine in Quebec were sent one of four open-ended questionnaires, each of which dealt with six clinical problems; 214 general practitioners and 114 faculty members participated. A total of 5111 difficulties were reported; the number reported by each subject varied from 0 to 13 (mean 2.6 [standard deviation 2.09]) per problem. The problems that generated the most difficulties were depression, confusion in the elderly, chronic back pain, loss of autonomy in the elderly and sexually transmitted disease. The most frequent difficulties were with the patient's noncompliance with treatment, clinical diagnosis, failure of a specific treatment, inadequate health care resources and the physician's own emotional reactions. The difficulties for each problem were the same in the two groups 70% of the time. Physician's perceptions of their difficulties can be useful in the planning of initial training and continuing medical education.