Doctor! Did you Google my symptoms? A qualitative study of patient perceptions of doctors’ point-of-care information seeking
Objective To explore patient perceptions regarding doctors’ information seeking during consultations.Design and setting Qualitative interviews with participants from six general practice waiting rooms in South East Queensland, Australia. Participants were asked about their experiences and opinions,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2022-07-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/7/e061090.full |
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| author | Mieke L van Driel Isaac Tranter Ben Mitchell |
| author_facet | Mieke L van Driel Isaac Tranter Ben Mitchell |
| author_sort | Mieke L van Driel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective To explore patient perceptions regarding doctors’ information seeking during consultations.Design and setting Qualitative interviews with participants from six general practice waiting rooms in South East Queensland, Australia. Participants were asked about their experiences and opinions, and to comment on short videos of simulated consultations in which a doctor sought information. The interviews were analysed through a process of iterative thematic analysis using the framework of Braun and Clarke.Participants The 16 participants were purposively sampled including 5 men and 11 women from a diverse range of educational and age groups.Results How a doctor’s need to look up information impacted patient impressions of competence and trust was an overarching theme. The four dominant themes include: the trust a patient has in the doctor before the consultation, whether the doctor is expected to know the answer to a question without searching, has the doctor added value to the consultation by searching and the consultation skills used in the process.Conclusions Patient trust is fundamental to positive perceptions of general practitioners’ information seeking at the point-of-care. Communication is key to building this trust. Understanding the patient’s agenda, listening, assessing thoroughly and being honest and transparent about the need to seek information all contribute to a positive experience. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-922d299c31624bde942819d82baf7d23 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-922d299c31624bde942819d82baf7d232025-01-31T03:40:09ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552022-07-0112710.1136/bmjopen-2022-061090Doctor! Did you Google my symptoms? A qualitative study of patient perceptions of doctors’ point-of-care information seekingMieke L van Driel0Isaac Tranter1Ben Mitchell2General Practice Clinical Unit, The University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Herston, Queensland, AustraliaGeneral Practice Clinical Unit, The University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Herston, Queensland, AustraliaGeneral Practice Clinical Unit, The University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Herston, Queensland, AustraliaObjective To explore patient perceptions regarding doctors’ information seeking during consultations.Design and setting Qualitative interviews with participants from six general practice waiting rooms in South East Queensland, Australia. Participants were asked about their experiences and opinions, and to comment on short videos of simulated consultations in which a doctor sought information. The interviews were analysed through a process of iterative thematic analysis using the framework of Braun and Clarke.Participants The 16 participants were purposively sampled including 5 men and 11 women from a diverse range of educational and age groups.Results How a doctor’s need to look up information impacted patient impressions of competence and trust was an overarching theme. The four dominant themes include: the trust a patient has in the doctor before the consultation, whether the doctor is expected to know the answer to a question without searching, has the doctor added value to the consultation by searching and the consultation skills used in the process.Conclusions Patient trust is fundamental to positive perceptions of general practitioners’ information seeking at the point-of-care. Communication is key to building this trust. Understanding the patient’s agenda, listening, assessing thoroughly and being honest and transparent about the need to seek information all contribute to a positive experience.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/7/e061090.full |
| spellingShingle | Mieke L van Driel Isaac Tranter Ben Mitchell Doctor! Did you Google my symptoms? A qualitative study of patient perceptions of doctors’ point-of-care information seeking BMJ Open |
| title | Doctor! Did you Google my symptoms? A qualitative study of patient perceptions of doctors’ point-of-care information seeking |
| title_full | Doctor! Did you Google my symptoms? A qualitative study of patient perceptions of doctors’ point-of-care information seeking |
| title_fullStr | Doctor! Did you Google my symptoms? A qualitative study of patient perceptions of doctors’ point-of-care information seeking |
| title_full_unstemmed | Doctor! Did you Google my symptoms? A qualitative study of patient perceptions of doctors’ point-of-care information seeking |
| title_short | Doctor! Did you Google my symptoms? A qualitative study of patient perceptions of doctors’ point-of-care information seeking |
| title_sort | doctor did you google my symptoms a qualitative study of patient perceptions of doctors point of care information seeking |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/7/e061090.full |
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