Patient expectations of ‘first-contact care’consultations with nurse and generalpractitioners in primary care
Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: Background Patients’ attending UK primary carecurrently receive first-contact care services fromnurses as well as general practitioners (GPs). Althoughrandomised trials have reported highersatisfaction following nurse consultations,the relationshipbetween patients’ prior expectations and satisfaction for nurse consultations has not been fully explored.Objective To explore patients’ expectations of their consultations with nurses or GPs,whether or not they are met,and their overall satisfaction.Methods Participants were adults attending general practice for same-day first-contact care consultations during 2004. Qualitative data were collected prior to and up to two weeks after the consultation. Semi-structured interview and constant comparative methods were used in order to explore the issue from the perspective of the participants. The mainthemes that emerged from this data set have been reported elsewhere. This paper reports on further analysis of participants’ expectations from the first interviews,w ith whether or not these were met from the second interviews.Results Twenty-eight participants were interviewedprior to their consultation,and 19 of these participants were interviewed subsequently. Eighteen paired interviews with either a GP (n = 10) or nurse (n = 8) were used for the analysis. Although participants wanted certainty with regard to the outcome of their consultation,most found it difficult to articulate all their expectations of either thenurse or GP. Participants knew what to expect from their usual GP,and were generally satisfied with the outcome. They had little experience of nurse-led consultations and lower expectations of them. Retrospectively,most participants were satisfied with their nurse-led consultation.Conclusion The skills,know ledge and authority ofnurses undertaking first-contact care were not fullyunderstood by participants,and they may adjusttheir expectations to take account of this. Patientsconsulting with nurses may report higher satisfactionrates with nurses because they have fewerexpectations beforehand,and if these are exceededin the resulting consultation,their satisfaction is,accordingly,greater.
Language: English
Topic: Nursing Roles and Practices
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: University of Leicester
OpenAlex ID: W2163109576