Observational studyPloS one2015
The length and content of general practice consultation in two urban districts of Beijing: a preliminary observation study.
Observational study in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- International variations in primary care physician consultation time: a systematic review of 67 countries.BMJ open · 2017Pooled it
- Development and Internal Validation of a Multivariable Prognostic Model for Sustained Remission of Depressive Symptoms in Middle-Aged and Older Adults: An Analysis of the CHARLS Cohort.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Unlikely Storyteller: Leveraging Narrative-Based Communication in LLM-Generated Medical Advice.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Implementation of Reference Framework for Preventive Care for Older Adults: Cross-sectional Qualitative Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Ensemble transfer learning for classifying physical examinations in GP consultation: a multi-model approach to human-object and human-to-human activity recognition.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2026Article
- East Meets West: A Multisite Validity Study of the China Medical Professionalism Inventory.Perspectives on medical education · 2025Article
- Factors affecting the essential medicine prescribing behavior among general practitioners in Beijing, China: a cross-sectional study with structural equation model.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Is 'too much medicine' a guideline-driven phenomenon? Ten years' report and reflections of the Guidelines International Network Multimorbidity Working Group.Clinical and public health guidelines · 2024Article
- A novel model of ambulatory teaching of residents in general practice in China: a cross-sectional study.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Content and Duration of Doctor-Patient Communication in Outpatient Oncology Follow-Up Consultations in China.Cureus · 2024Article
- Potentially inappropriate prescribing among older adults with hypertension in China: prevalence and related comorbidities across different outpatient settings.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Article
- An instrument to measure atrial fibrillation knowledge in Chinese patients: validation of the Jessa Atrial fibrillation Knowledge Questionnaire.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Article
- Article
- Process quality of type 2 diabetes mellitus care and association with patient perceived attributes of family doctor service in urban general practices, Beijing, China.BMC primary care · 2022Article
- Comparison of the prevalence and nature of potentially inappropriate medication use in geriatric outpatients between tertiary and community healthcare settings: a multicenter cross-sectional study.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2022Article
- Patient Activeness During Online Medical Consultation in China: Multilevel Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Article
- Article
- Association between primary care appointment lengths and subsequent ambulatory reassessment, emergency department care, and hospitalization: a cohort study.BMC primary care · 2022Article
- Physical examination performed by general practitioners in 5 community health service institutions in Beijing: an observational study.BMC primary care · 2022Observational
- Physician-patient communication in decision-making about Caesarean sections in eight district hospitals in Bangladesh: a mixed-method study.Reproductive health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCommunity health service center (CHSC) and community health service station (CHSS) are the main institutions where general practitioners (GPs) deliver primary care in the urban area of China. Motivated by incentive policies, visits to community health service institutions (CHSIs) increased gradually in recent years, but concerns had been raised on the quality of general practice consultation. This is a preliminary study aimed to investigate the existing problems of general practice consultation in Beijing and provide practical evidence for developing relevant policies.
methodsSix GPs from 2 CHSCs and 3 CHSSs were selected by purposive sampling. The GPs were observed for 4 or 5 consecutive days during January 2013 to March 2013. The length and content of consultations were recorded in structured observation forms. Quantitative description was applied to describe the median, percentage and frequency of variables.
resultsA total of 1135 consultations were observed. The most frequent reason for consultations was specific prescription (61.6%), followed by presenting symptoms (20.7%), check-up (9.1%), counseling (5.4%), transfusion & injection (3.0%) and sickness certificate (0.2%). The median consultation length of all consultations was 2.0 minutes. The GPs prescribed in 81.0% of the consultations, on the other hand, history taking, physical examination, explanation of illness and health education only took place in 27.0%, 28.0%, 21.9% and 17.7% of the consultations respectively.
conclusionsThe adequacy of consultation length in CHSIs is in doubt. Most patients visited the CHSIs for prescription renewal. Health promotion e.g. health education are not adequately provided in consultations. The quality of general practice consultations was jeopardized by the large amount of patient flow for medicine renewal. Policies should be adjusted to reduce unnecessary consultations. Further studies are in need to evaluate the outcome and influencing factors of general practice consultation in China.
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