Evidence map›Paper›PMID 15353051›Full record

Trial reportThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2004

Eliciting patients' concerns: a randomised controlled trial of different approaches by the doctor.

Malcolm McLean, David Armstrong

Abstract readClinical TrialMulticenter StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2004. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Assessment of patient concerns: a review.Irish journal of medical science · 2018
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Eliciting patients' concerns.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2004
    Article
  6. Eliciting patients' concerns.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2004
    Article
  7. Eliciting patients' concerns.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2004
    Article
  8. Patient-centredness.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2004
    Article
  9. The journey towards patient-centredness.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2004
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Malcolm McLeanHenfield Medical Centre, West Sussex. malcolm.mclean@gp-h82060.nhs.uk
David Armstrong

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAlthough a 'patient-centred' approach to general practice consultation is widely advocated, there is mixed evidence of its benefits.

aimTo measure the costs and benefits of using a prompt to elicit patients' concerns when they consult for minor illness. DESIGN OF STUDY: An open randomised controlled trial.

settingFour training semi-rural general practices in the south- east of the United Kingdom.

methodPatients identified during the first part of the consultation as having a self-limiting illness were randomised to a second part of the consultation that was conducted 'as usual' or involved a written prompt to elicit the patient's concerns. After each consultation the doctor noted the diagnosis and the consultation length and the patient self-completed a questionnaire containing measures of satisfaction, enablement and anxiety.

resultsOne hundred and ten patients were studied. Patients in the elicitation group reported a small but significant increase in the 'professional care' score of the consultation satisfaction questionnaire (88.2 versus 80.9, mean difference = 7.3, 95% confidence interval = 2.0 to 12.6) but no other benefits were detected. Consultations in the elicitation group, however, were longer by about a minute.

conclusionGiven the pressures on consultation time in general practice there must be questions about the practical value of eliciting patients' concerns if the benefit of doing so is small and the cost large.

Indexed as

Attitude to HealthFamily PracticePatient ParticipationPhysician-Patient RelationsAnxietyHumansPatient-Centered CarePatient SatisfactionSurveys and Questionnaires

Identifiers

PMID15353051
PMCPMC1326066

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.