Health Professional-Patient Interactions

This qualitative study was undertaken by Dr Sanjiv Ahluwalia, supervised by Fiona Stevenson and Elizabeth Murray. The study used a critical incident approach with participating GPs asked to consider two consultations to which patients had brought information from the internet - one that had gone well and one that had gone badly. Participants described experiencing considerable anxiety when confronted with internet information, but most participants had sufficient self-awareness and communication skills to respond positively. Problems occurred when doctors did not feel valued by patients, or if there was a poor pre-existing relationship(1).

Patient perceptions:

This parallel study was undertaken by Dr Parvathy Bowes during her attachment as an academic FY2 and supervised by Fiona Stevenson and Elizabeth Murray. The aim of the study was to determine what patients who had taken health information from the internet to their GP had wanted from the doctor, and how their experience had differed from this ideal. Twenty-six interviews were undertaken. These data are currently still being written up.

Reference List

(1) Ahluwalia S, Murray E, Stevenson F, Kerr C, Burns J. 'A heartbeat moment': qualitative study of GP views of patients bringing health information from the internet to a consultation. Br J Gen Pract 2010 Feb;60(571):88-94.