Group supervision for general practitioners: a case study.

AIM: Group supervision is a sparsely researched method for professional development in general practice. The aim of this study was to explore general practitioners' (GPs') experiences of the benefits of group supervision for improving the treatment of mental disorders. METHODS: One long-established supervision group was studied closely for six months by observing the group sessions, and by interviewing GPs and their supervisors, individually and collectively. The interviews were recorded digitally and transcribed verbatim. The data were analysed using systematic text condensation. RESULTS: The GPs found participation in a supervision group to be a meaningful and professionally valuable activity. They experienced that supervision had improved their psychiatric skills, and that they had become more confident in carrying out talking therapies. Improvements in referral letters were also reported in relation to the communication with local community psychiatry centres. Furthermore, the GPs experienced that supervision had a positive 'spill-over effect' on everyday consultations, and that the supervision group became a forum for coping with other difficulties in their professional life as well. Trust and continuity were considered important prerequisites for disclosing and discussing professional problems. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that participation in a supervision group can be beneficial for maintaining and developing GPs' skills in dealing with patients with mental health problems. Group supervision influenced other areas of GPs' professional lives as well. However, more studies are needed to assess the impact of supervision groups.

Increasing the general level of academic capacity in general practice: introducing mandatory research training for general practitioner trainees through a participatory research process.

BACKGROUND: To obtain good quality evidence-based clinical work there needs to be a culture of critical appraisal, and strong bridges between the clinical and the academic worlds in general practice. AIM: The aim was to educate the general practitioner (GP) trainees to obtain critical appraisal skills, and through the development and implementation of the mandatory programme to gradually empower the GP community to achieve academic capacity by creating a link between the GP researchers and the GP training community. This was done by developing a faculty, giving teaching skills to GP academics, and research skills to GP clinicians; and creating an awareness of the potential benefits of critical appraisal in training GP surgeries. METHODS: Development and implementation of a faculty and a programme through a participatory action research-inspired project, with process evaluation from the beginning of the planning phase. RESULTS: From 2006 to 2009, we built a teaching faculty of 25 teachers among clinical GPs and GP academics; developed the training programme; and delivered the programme to 95 GP trainees. Some of the GP trainees later showed an interest in more substantial research projects, and GP trainers with no previous association with the research environment started to show an interest through their function as GP trainers. The GP academics of the faculty, however, felt that it was difficult to continue the engagement because of the still increasing demand for published knowledge production in academia. CONCLUSION: It is possible to support the development of general academic capacity in general practice using participatory design in collaboration with GP academics and clinicians, building bridges between academia and clinical work, as well as within academia between research publication and teaching. There is, however, a generic barrier in the regulation of academia itself.

Informal work and formal plans: articulating the active role of patients in cancer trajectories.

INTRODUCTION: Formal pathways models outline that patients should receive information in order to experience a coherent journey but do not describe an active role for patients or their relatives. The aim of this is paper is to articulate and discuss the active role of patients during their cancer trajectories. METHODS AND THEORY: An in-depth case study of patient trajectories at a Danish hospital and surrounding municipality using individual interviews with patients. Theory about trajectory and work by Strauss was included. RESULTS: Patients continuously took initiatives to organize their treatment and care. They initiated processes in the trajectories, and acquired information, which they used to form their trajectories. Patients presented problems to the healthcare professionals in order to get proper help when needed. DISCUSSION: Work done by patients was invisible and not perceived as work. The patients' requests were not sufficiently supported in the professional organisation of work or formal planning. Patients' insertion and use of information in their trajectories challenged professional views and working processes. And the design of the formal pathway models limits the patients' active participation. When looking at integrated care from the perspective of patients, the development of a more holistic and personalized approach is needed.

Danish general practitioners only play a minor role in the coordination of cancer treatment.

INTRODUCTION: Despite initiatives to integrate treatment and care across organisations, patient trajectories in Danish health-care are not well coordinated. Coordination among many health-care professionals is essential, and it is frequently suggested that a single person should perform the task of coordination. The aim of the article is to discuss whether general practitioners (GPs) may play a coordinating role for individual patients in Danish cancer treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study is based on individual interviews and focus groups analyzed by meaning condensation. RESULTS: The GP's potential to coordinate patient trajectories was limited by lack of involvement of the GPs by other health-care professionals and lack of needed information. Furthermore, many patients do not regard their GP as a coordinator. Patients who contacted their GP during treatment typically had a close relationship with their GP prior to their cancer diagnosis. In cases with a more distant relationship, patients did not see a need for the GP's involvement. The majority of patients' trajectories were decided within hospitals. The level of information provided to GPs varied much between hospitals and wards. In the majority of cases, GPs had no access to information or were not informed about hospital decisions affecting the patients' trajectories, and they were therefore unable to perform a coordinating role. CONCLUSION: GPs only played a minor or no role at all as coordinators of individual cancer patient trajectories. The findings of the present study question the idea that coordination throughout the entire health-care system may be assigned to a single individual as the involved parties belong to different organizations with different goals, managements and economic resources.

[Developing training in critical appraisal for GP trainees in the Eastern Region of Denmark]. / Udviklingen af den almenmedicinske forskningstraening i Region Øst.

In 2004 training in critical appraisal became a mandatory part of the Danish medical specialist training. In this article we describe how the course was designed and implemented on the basis of experience from previous research training initiatives targeting GPs and GP-trainees; and how we continuously develop the course and tailor the training of teachers for the course using a multi-method participatory evaluation design, theoretically based on Stenhouse's definition of the curriculum as a process and the teachers as researchers.