Jon
It would be really interesting to do a proper study on this as it is related to the English NHS reforms.
The population way of thinking is not something most GPs are generally highly trained in* - so they may have a bias towards the recent or frequent as opposed to the actual underlying needs/problems in their populations.
Aileen
* I have spent quite a lot time training GPs in population issues - epidemiology, and routine data and how to assess health needs/characteristics of populations and often these are seen as quite new concepts - understandably because in the end the day job entails seeing individuals who come to the GP - a highly selected sub group of their population
Aileen Clarke MD MRCGP FFPH
Professor of Public Health & Health Services Research,
Director of Warwick Evidence and Lead for Populations Evidence and Technologies
Division of Health Sciences,
Warwick Medical School
University of Warwick
Coventry, CV4 7AL
+44 (0) 24761 50063
email:[log in to unmask]
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/med/staff/clarke/
Society for Social Medicine 2011
Warwick Evidence
The Society for Social Medicine 2011 Conference was held at Warwick 14-16 September. Details of the conference are on www.ssmconference.org.uk. Find out more about the Society at www.socsocmed.org.uk
-----Original Message-----
From: Evidence based health (EBH) [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jon Brassey
Sent: 14 October 2011 10:42
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Do doctors know best?
Hi All,
I'm not 100% sure where I'm going with this! But, I was in a meeting the other day (as an observer) and a doctor said something along the lines of 'I'm a doctor and I know my patients'.
While this is not an unusual thing to hear, this time it struck me. I thought I see my GP about once a year. I typically spend 5-10 mins with them. I don't feel my GP knows me, not in the slightest.
But, bottom line, do doctors know their patient group? Is there any evidence for this and if there is, is this knowledge demonstrably and consistently useful?
BW
jon
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