ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2010
Comparison of face-to-face and telephone consultations in primary care: qualitative analysis.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 102 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Role of Language in Remote Healthcare Triage: A Meta-Aggregative Review.Journal of advanced nursing · 2025Pooled it
- Preoperative anxiety after face-to-face patient assessment versus preanaesthesia telemedicine (PANTEM) in adults: a randomised clinical trial.Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) · 2024Trial
- Safety-netting communication during telephone consultations: an observational study using recorded consultations.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2026Observational
- Health and occupational environment of Japanese expatriates in the United States: medical interview analysis using text mining.Journal of occupational health · 2026Article
- Impact of Modern Communication in Transforming Dental Care.Dentistry journal · 2025Review
- The effect of workload on primary care doctors on referral rates and prescription patterns: evidence from English NHS.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2025Article
- The Dynamics of Doctor-Patient Communication During Remote Consultations: Qualitative Study Among Norwegian Contract General Practitioners.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Patient safety in remote primary care encounters: multimethod qualitative study combining Safety I and Safety II analysis.BMJ quality & safety · 2024Article
- General practitioner preferences for telehealth consultations in Australia: a pilot survey and discrete choice experiment.Primary health care research & development · 2024Article
- Accuracy of urgency allocation in patients with shortness of breath calling out-of-hours primary care: a cross-sectional study.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Communication in Telehealth: A State-of-the-Art Literature Review of Conversation-Analytic Research.Research on language and social interaction · 2024Article
- Telemedicine in Neuro-Oncology-An Evaluation of Remote Consultations during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Cancers · 2023Article
- Health Communication Research Informs Inflammatory Bowel Disease Practice and Research: A Narrative Review.Crohn's & colitis 360 · 2023Article
- Ethnic inequalities in the impact of COVID-19 on primary care consultations: a time series analysis of 460,084 individuals with multimorbidity in South London.BMC medicine · 2023Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pharmacy personnel in primary care.Primary health care research & development · 2022Article
- Undergraduate medical teaching with remote consultations in general practice: a realist evaluation.BJGP open · 2022Article
- Telemedicine and virtual respiratory care in the era of COVID-19.ERJ open research · 2022Review
- Article
- Considering autistic patients in the era of telemedicine: the need for an adaptable, equitable, and compassionate approach.BJGP open · 2022Article
- Providing Care by Telephone to Refugees and Asylum Seekers: An Evaluation of Telephone Mode-of-Care in Monash Health Refugee Health and Wellbeing Clinic in Victoria, Australia.Health services insights · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere is evidence that telephone consultations in general practice are typically shorter than face-to-face consultations and that fewer problems are presented in them.
aimTo compare the communicative practices of doctors and patients in face-to-face and telephone consultations, in order to understand the contrasts between the two consulting modes. DESIGN OF STUDY: Conversation analysis.
settingEight NHS GP surgeries in Scotland.
methodTranscription and conversation analysis of 32 face-to-face and 33 telephone consultations.
participantsEighteen GPs and 65 patients.
resultsThere are no underlying contrasts between the communicative practices used in face-to-face and telephone consultations. Telephone consultations are typically used by patients to deal with a limited range of single-issue concerns, whereas a wide range of different problem types is dealt with in face-to-face consultations. Most telephone consultations for new problems lead to a face-to-face meeting rather than a diagnosis, making them shorter than equivalent face-to-face consultations. Interaction in telephone consultations is continuous and orderly, but in face-to-face consultations there are periods of silence that facilitate the introduction of additional topics, including social speech and rapport building. Doctors on the telephone are less likely to elicit additional concerns than in face-to-face consultations, and ask fewer questions when patients present self-diagnosed problems or describe problems with treatment.
conclusionDoctors in general practice do not substantially change their communicative behaviour on the telephone. Telephone consultations are shorter and include less problem disclosure than face-to-face meetings, partly because they are typically mono-topical and partly because of intrinsic differences between the two channels.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.