ArticleBMC health services research2018
The benefits of co-location in primary care practices: the perspectives of general practitioners and patients in 34 countries.
Article in BMC health services research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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
41 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Exploring the design and impact of integrated health and social care services for children and young people living in underserved populations: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Integrating tuberculosis and noncommunicable diseases care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs): A systematic review.PLoS medicine · 2022Pooled it
- PACE-It: An Integrated Multidisciplinary Technology-Assisted Approach to Person-Centered Care for Individuals with Complex Care Needs.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Trial
- A GP drop-in clinic model providing holistic community care in family hubs: Service evaluation findings and next steps.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Factors influencing referrals amongst allied health and medical practitioners managing people with musculoskeletal conditions in Australian primary care.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Unlocking insights: general practice staff perspectives on sharing general practice data for research - a scoping review.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Inter-professional collaboration in family doctor teams of the Chinese primary care system: a thematic analysis.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Interprofessional Collaboration in Primary Healthcare: A Qualitative Study of General Practitioners' and Family and Community Nurses' Perspectives in Italy.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Task shifting for musculoskeletal disorders in Norwegian primary care: a qualitative interview study of general practitioners and specialist musculoskeletal physiotherapists.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2025Article
- Adapting and applying intervention mapping to integrate medical-legal partnership into organizations providing HIV care: an implementation methodology study.Frontiers in health services · 2025Article
- Behavioral Determinants of Hospital Selection in Urological Care: Evidence From China's Hierarchical Healthcare System.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2025Article
- When Interruption Becomes Innovation: How Integrated Behavioral Health in Primary Care Adapted During COVID-19.Family medicine · 2024Article
- Caregiver interactions, perceived control, and meaning in life of elderly: the moderating effect of the elderly-to-social worker ratio.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Fluid professional boundaries: ethnographic observations of co-located chiropractors, osteopaths and physiotherapists.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Barriers and enablers to implementing interprofessional primary care teams: a narrative review of the literature using the consolidated framework for implementation research.BMC primary care · 2024Review
- Factors influencing referral to maternity models of care in Australian general practice.PloS one · 2024Article
- Nurturing an organizational context that supports team-based primary mental health care: A grounded theory study.PloS one · 2024Article
- How co-locating public mental health interventions in community settings impacts mental health and health inequalities: a multi-site realist evaluation.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Integrated clinical opportunities for training offered through US doctor of chiropractic programs.The Journal of chiropractic education · 2023Article
- The Colocation Model in Community Cancer Care: A Description of Patient Clinical and Demographic Attributes and Referral Pathways.JCO oncology practice · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere is no clear evidence as to whether the co-location of primary care professionals in the same facility positively influences their way of working and the quality of healthcare as perceived by patients. The aim of this study was to identify the relationships between general practitioner (GP) co-location with other GPs and/or other professionals and the GP outcomes and patients' experiences.
methodsWe wanted to test whether GP co-location is related to a broader range of services provided, the use of clinical governance tools and inter-professional collaboration, and whether the patients of co-located GPs perceive a better quality of care in terms of accessibility, comprehensiveness and continuity of care with their GPs. The source of data was the QUALICOPC study (Quality and Costs of Primary Care in Europe), which involved surveys of GPs and their patients in 34 countries, mostly in Europe. In order to study the relationships between GP co-location and both GPs' outcomes and patients' experience, multilevel linear regression analysis was carried out.
resultsThe GP questionnaire was filled in by 7183 GPs and the patient experience questionnaire by 61,931 patients. Being co-located with at least one other professional is the most common situation of the GPs involved in the study. Compared with single-handed GP practices, GP co-location are positively associated with the GP outcomes. Considering the patients' perspective, comprehensiveness of care has the strongest negative relationship of GP co-location of all the dimensions of patient experiences analysed.
conclusionsThe paper highlights that GP mono- and multi-disciplinary co-location is related to positive outcomes at a GP level, such as a broader provision of technical procedures, increased collaboration among different providers and wider coordination with secondary care. However, GP co-location, particularly in a multidisciplinary setting, is related to less positive patient experiences, especially in countries with health systems characterised by a weak primary care structure.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.