ENCOURAGING PATIENT PARTICIPATION IN GENERAL-PRACTICE CONSULTATIONS -EFFECT ON CONSULTATION LENGTH AND CONTENT, PATIENT SATISFACTION AND HEALTH

Following the evidence from earlier research that one-to-one intervent ions can increase the patient's contribution to the consultation, this paper reports the results from a randomised control trial which asses sed the effects of a leafier designed to enhance patient participation in consultations. A random sample of patients (aged 16 to 74) waiting to see a general practitioner were given either an intervention leafl et, which encouraged the patient to take an active role in the consult ation, or a control leaflet which gave dietary advice. The effects of the intervention were assessed by measuring length of consultation, nu mber of questions asked by the patient, patient satisfaction score, do ctor's feelings about the consultation, the change in patients' health in the 4 weeks following the consultation (measured by the SF-36 Heal th Survey) and the number of patient visits to a GP in the following y ear. The results showed that patients in the intervention group had si gnificantly longer consultations than those in the control group and t ended to ask more questions but there was no significant effect on pat ient satisfaction. The doctor tended to feel that he had a better unde rstanding of patients in the intervention group. Overall there was no significant effect on SF-36 scores bur, for patients under the age of 40, and for those in higher social classes the scores of patients in t he intervention group improved to a significantly greater degree than did those for the control group. The intervention did not have any eff ect on the number of GP visits made by patients in the subsequent year . The study results show that a relatively simple leaflet can have an impact on patients' behaviour during the consultation, even though the re were no effects on patient satisfaction with the consultation or in the number of GP visits in the following year.