To treat? to befriend? to prevent? Patients' and GPs' views of the doctor's role

Abstract

Objective-To examine and compare patients' and GPs' views of the doctor's role and patients' reasons for going to the doctor.

Design-A cross sectional questionnaire survey.

Setting-General practices across England.

Subjects-501 patients and 68 GPs.

Main outcome measures-Beliefs about the doctors' role and beliefs about patients' reasons for going to the doctor in terms of illness treatment, a psychosocial approach and preventive health care.

Results-A majority of both patients and GPs agreed that the doctor's role was primarily to treat illness. However, whereas patients showed greater endorsement for preventive health care and a belief that the doctor's role was to keep people healthy, GPs showed greater support for an emphasis on personal problems. In terms of patients' reasons for visiting their doctor, a majority of both patients and GPs agreed that illness prevention and illness treatment were important. However, more patients believed that patients visit the doctor for illness prevention than GPs, more of whom felt that patients seek help with their personal problems.

Conclusion-The results indicate a mismatch between patients' and GPs' beliefs, which has implications for understanding the impact of recent changes in primary care and the effects on GPs' job satisfaction.

Key Words:

• doctor's role
• beliefs
• prevention
• treatment
• psychosocial