ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2012
The compatibility of prescribing guidelines and the doctor-patient partnership: a primary care mixed-methods study.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- General practitioner strategies for managing patients with multimorbidity: a systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative research.BMC family practice · 2020Pooled it
- Factors Influencing Prescribing Decisions of Physicians: A Review.Ethiopian journal of health sciences · 2018Pooled it
- Effects of discontinuation of chronic medication in primary care: a systematic review of deprescribing trials.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2018Pooled it
- Patient and physician factors influence decision-making in hypercholesterolemia: a questionnaire-based survey.Lipids in health and disease · 2015Trial
- General practitioners and management control through guidelines: a qualitative study of its effects on their practice.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Mechanisms influencing generic drug substitution behavior under the national centralized drug procurement policy.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2025Article
- General practitioners' assessment and management of chronic kidney disease in older patients- a mixed methods study.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Patient-Centred Care for Patients With Diabetes and HIV at a Public Tertiary Hospital in South Africa: An Ethnographic Study.International journal of health policy and management · 2021Article
- GPs' use and understanding of the benefits and harms of treatments for long-term conditions: a qualitative interview study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2021Article
- Communication skills of medical students: survey of self- and external perception in a longitudinally based trend study.BMC medical education · 2020Article
- Real world partnership with patients.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2019Article
- Prescribing antibiotics when the stakes are higher - do GPs prescribe less when patients are pregnant? A retrospective observational study.BJGP open · 2018Article
- Does a Consumer-Targeted Deprescribing Intervention Compromise Patient-Healthcare Provider Trust?Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2018Article
- Cholesterol testing among men and women with disability: the role of morbidity.Clinical epidemiology · 2016Article
- Article
- Use of statins by medicare beneficiaries post myocardial infarction: poor physician quality or patient-centered care?Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financing · 2015Article
- Prescribing for personality disorder: qualitative study of interviews with general and forensic consultant psychiatrists.Psychiatric bulletin (2014) · 2014Article
- GPs' perspectives on the management of patients with multimorbidity: systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research.BMJ open · 2013Article
- Shared decision making does not influence physicians against clinical practice guidelines.PloS one · 2013Article
- Integrated approach to prescribing education.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2012Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundUK policy expects health professionals to involve patients in decisions about their care (including medicines use) and, at the same time, to follow prescribing guidelines. The compatibility of these approaches is unclear.
aimTo explore the relationship between prescribing guidelines and patient-partnership by exploring the attitudes of patients, GPs and primary care trust (PCT) prescribing advisors. DESIGN AND
settingA mixed-methods study using qualitative, semi-structured interviews followed by a quantitative, questionnaire survey in primary care in Northern England.
methodInterviews were conducted with 14 patients taking a statin or a proton pump inhibitor, eight GPs and two prescribing advisors. A multi-variate sampling strategy was used. Qualitative findings were analysed using framework analysis. Questionnaires based on themes derived from the interviews were distributed to 533 patients and 305 GPs of whom 286 (54%) and 142 (43%) responded.
resultsAreas of tension between guidelines and patient partnership were identified, including potential damage to trust in the doctor and reduced patient choice, through the introduction of the policy maker as a third stakeholder in prescribing decisions. Other areas of tension related to applying single condition guidelines to patients with multiple illnesses, competition for doctors' time and the perception of cost containment. Many GPs coped with these tensions by adopting a flexible approach or prioritising the doctor-patient relationship over guidelines.
conclusionRigidly applied guidelines can limit patient choice and may damage the doctor-patient relationship. GPs need flexibility in order to optimise the implementation of prescribing guidelines, while responding to individuals' needs and preferences.
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