ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2018
Receptionists' role in new approaches to consultations in primary care: a focused ethnographic study.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Impact of the clinically oriented roles of a general practice receptionist: a systematic review with narrative synthesis.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2025Pooled it
- Enhancing System Empathy Within a UK Emergency Department: A Feasibility Interprofessional Priority Setting Exercise.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2026Article
- Mapping policies, regulations, and practice supports for medical office assistants in primary care: a scoping review.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Bugbears in the Waiting Room: Revisiting Arber and Sawyer's Classic Study of GP Reception Work Using Ethnography in Eight English General Practices.Sociology of health & illness · 2025Article
- Evolution of the general practice receptionist role and online services: a qualitative study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2025Article
- General Practice Community Pharmacist Consultation Service: an exploratory patient survey.BJGP open · 2025Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical office assistants (MOAs) working in primary care: a qualitative study.BJGP open · 2025Article
- Telehealth for primary healthcare delivery in rural and remote contexts in high-income countries-a scoping review.mHealth · 2025Review
- Enhancing access to primary care is critical to the future of an equitable health service: using process visualisation to understand the impact of national policy in the UK.Frontiers in health services · 2024Article
- "Heliyon · 2023Article
- Understanding the invisible workforce: lessons for general practice from a survey of receptionists.BMC primary care · 2022Article
- Article
- Unintended consequences of online consultations: a qualitative study in UK primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2022Article
- Patient Acceptance and Intention to Use e-Consultations During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Evaluation of the First Contact Physiotherapy (FCP) model of primary care: a qualitative insight.Physiotherapy · 2021Article
- Perceived Factors Influencing the Public Intention to Use E-Consultation: Analysis of Web-Based Survey Data.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Article
- First point of contact physiotherapy; a qualitative study.Physiotherapy · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe receptionist is pivotal to the smooth running of general practice in the UK, communicating with patients and booking appointments.
aimThe authors aimed to explore the role of the receptionist in the implementation of new approaches to consultations in primary care. DESIGN AND
settingThe authors conducted a team-based focused ethnography. Three researchers observed eight general practices across England and Scotland between June 2015 and May 2016.
methodInterviews were conducted with 39 patients and 45 staff in the practices, all of which had adopted one or more methods (telephone, email, e-consultation, or internet video) for providing an alternative to face-to-face consultation.
resultsReceptionists have a key role in facilitating patient awareness regarding new approaches to consultations in primary care, while at the same time ensuring that patients receive a consultation appropriate to their needs. In this study, receptionists' involvement in implementation and planning for the introduction of alternative approaches to face-to-face consultations was minimal, despite the expectation that they would be involved in delivery.
conclusionA shared understanding within practices of the potential difficulties and extra work that might ensue for reception staff was lacking. This might contribute to the low uptake by patients of potentially important innovations in service delivery. Involvement of the wider practice team in planning and piloting changes, supporting team members through service reconfiguration, and providing an opportunity to discuss and contribute to modifications of any new system would ensure that reception staff are suitably prepared to support the introduction of a new approach to consultations.
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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.