The hidden work of general practitioners
An ethnography
Dados Bibliográficos
| ID | 4588265 |
|---|---|
| Autores | R Barnard (0000-0003-4319-9550, Queen Mary University of London), Sharon Spooner (0000-0001-6965-3673, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre), Michaela Hubmann (0000-0003-1346-0279, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre), Kath Checkland (0000-0002-9961-5317, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre), John Campbell (0000-0002-6752-3493, University of Exeter), Deborah Swinglehurst (0000-0003-1261-9268, Queen Mary University of London, autor correspondente) |
| Ano | 2024 |
| Volume | 350 |
| Páginas | 116922 |
| Data de publicação | 2024-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Sim |
| Open Access | Sim |
| Tipo | ARTICLE |
| Periódico | Social Science & Medicine (JOURNAL) |
| Identificadores do periódico | ISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347 |
| Editora | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116922 |
| PMID | 38713977 |
| OpenAlex | W4396216664 |
| Idioma | EN |
| Citações recebidas | 6 |
| Referências citadas | 33 |
High quality primary care is a foundational element of effective health services. Internationally, primary care physicians (general practitioners (GPs), family doctors) are experiencing significant workload pressures. How non-patient-facing work contributes to these pressures and what constitutes this work is poorly understood and often unrecognised and undervalued by patients, policy makers, and even clinicians engaged in it. This paper examines non-patient-facing work ethnographically, informed by practice theory, the Listening Guide, and empirical ethics. Ethnographic observations (104 h), in-depth interviews (n = 16; 8 with GPs and 8 with other primary care staff) and reflexive workshops were conducted in two general practices in England. Our analysis shows that 'hidden work' was integral to direct patient care, involving diverse clinical practices such as: interpreting test results; crafting referrals; and accepting interruptions from clinical colleagues. We suggest the term 'hidden care work' more accurately reflects the care-ful nature of this work, which was laden with ambiguity and clinical uncertainty. Completing hidden care work outside of expected working hours was normalised, creating feelings of inefficiency, and exacerbating workload pressure. Pushing tasks forward into an imagined future (when conditions might allow its completion) commonly led to overspill into GPs' own time. GPs experienced tension between their desire to provide safe, continuous, 'caring' care and the desire to work a manageable day, in a context of increasing demand and burgeoning complexity
Active listening · Ambiguity · Care work · Context (archaeology · Ethnography · Geography · Health care · Inefficiency · Management · Political science · Public relations · Reflexivity · Social science · Sociology · Work (physics · Workload · Computer Science · Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout · Interprofessional Education and Collaboration · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Primary Care and Health Outcomes · Psychology
| Obras citantes distintas | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citações por ano | 6 |
| Intervalo de citações | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Velocidade de citação | current |
| Altamente citado | Não |
| Tipos de citação | Neutras: 5 |