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Research Article

A doctor close at hand: How GPs view their role in cancer care

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Pages 249-255 | Received 29 Apr 2010, Accepted 13 Sep 2010, Published online: 15 Oct 2010
 

Abstract

Objective. To explore GPs’ own views on their role in cancer care. Design. Qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews. Setting. Norwegian primary care. Methods. The stories of 14 GPs concerning 18 patients were analyzed for core content and abstracted into general ideas, to create a broader sense of the experienced professional role. Results. The GPs claimed to have an important role in cancer care. In our analysis, three main aspects of GPs’ work emerged: first, as a flexible mediator, e.g. between the patient and the clinic, interpreting and translating; second, as an efficient “handyman”, solving practical problems locally; and third, as a personal companion for the patient throughout the illness. Conclusion. The interviewed GPs see their place in cancer care as being close to their patients. In their many tasks we found three main aspects: the mediating, the practical, and the personal.

Acknowledgements

Profound gratitude is extended to participating GPs and to all colleagues who have read, discussed, and commented during the research and writing process.

Funding body

The Research Foundation for General Practice, Norway.

Ethical approval

The study has been approved by the Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics of Northern Norway (Ref 200503439-10/IAY/400) and by the Data Inspectorate of Norway (Ref 05/01607-9/CGN).

Competing interest statement

All authors declare that there are no competing interests.

Authors

The original idea for the study came from Holtedahl. All authors discussed the study design. Johansen and Rudebeck developed the protocol and performed the analysis. The article manuscript was written by Johansen, supervised by Rudebeck and critically revised by Holtedahl.