THE USEFULNESS OF DISTINGUISHING DIFFERENT TYPES OF GENERAL-PRACTICE CONSULTATION, OR ARE NEEDED SKILLS ALWAYS THE SAME

We hypothesized that it might be important to distinguish different ty pes of consultation in order to understand better how help is delivere d in general practice. This paper provides preliminary data on the way s that consultations can differ in how they unfold, and on how such di fferences might affect the helping process and the outcomes of each co nsultation. Several types of general practice consultation were notice d amongst 210 ; transcripts. Having established adequate inter-rater r eliability of the classification system, we explored the differences b etween consultations of three broad types: Psychosocial, Complex, and Straightforward. Some of the questions asked in this preliminary study included: 1) do certain sorts of doctor, or patient, engage in certai n sorts of consultation? 2) are there any relationships between the ty pe of consultation and its length, patient-centredness or outcomes? 3) are the correlations between process and outcome clearer within categ ories of consultation than they are if consultations are treated as ho mogeneous? Findings provide a foundation for further investigations.