Observational studyBMJ quality & safety2020
Influence of doctor-patient conversations on behaviours of patients presenting to primary care with new or persistent symptoms: a video observation study.
Observational study in BMJ quality & safety, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 3 of them syntheses 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
38 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Exploring Communication Dynamics Between Patients and Healthcare Providers in Oncology: A Systematic Review.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Pooled it
- Developing a framework for understanding diagnostic reconciliation based on evidence review, stakeholder engagement, and practice evaluation.Diagnosis (Berlin, Germany) · 2025Pooled it
- Understanding diagnostic conversations in clinical practice: A systematic review.Patient education and counseling · 2023Pooled it
- Primary healthcare providers' strategies of handling patients presenting with potential cancer symptoms following the introduction of standardized cancer patient pathways in Sweden.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Reframing Patient and Parental Experience in Pediatric Healthcare: Medical Gaslighting as a Diagnostic Safety Vulnerability.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Tools to engage patients and family members in diagnostic safety: we see the trees, but what about the forest?BMJ quality & safety · 2026Article
- Communication Challenges and Mitigation Strategies in Primary Care Virtual Consultations: Qualitative Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Delivery of interpreting services in UK primary care by population needs: a multisite case study.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Identifying opportunities for shared decision-making through patients' and physicians' perceptions on the diagnostic process: A qualitative analysis of malpractice claims in general practice.The European journal of general practice · 2025Observational
- Interventions to improve timely cancer diagnosis: an integrative review.Diagnosis (Berlin, Germany) · 2025Review
- Interactional competencies in medical student admission- what makes a "good medical doctor"?Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice · 2025Article
- Bringing team science to the ambulatory diagnostic process: how do patients and clinicians develop shared mental models?Diagnosis (Berlin, Germany) · 2025Review
- Inequalities in cancer 2-week-wait referrals: a cross-sectional study in English general practice.BJGP open · 2025Article
- How GPs communicate the urgent suspected cancer referral pathway to patients: a qualitative study of GP-patient consultations.BJGP open · 2025Article
- Patient and family contributions to improve the diagnostic process through the OurDX electronic health record tool: a mixed method analysis.BMJ quality & safety · 2024Article
- How is diagnostic uncertainty communicated and managed in real world primary care settings?BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Identifying Facilitators and Inhibitors of Shared Understanding: An Ethnography of Diagnosis Communication in Acute Medical Settings.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2024Article
- Patient preferences for investigating cancer-related symptoms in Australian general practice: a discrete-choice experiment.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2024Article
- What would primary care practitioners do differently after a delayed cancer diagnosis? Learning lessons from their experiences.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2024Article
- Multiple-Perspective Data-Driven Analysis of Online Health Communities.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMost cancers are diagnosed following contact with primary care. Patients diagnosed with cancer often see their doctor multiple times with potentially relevant symptoms before being referred to see a specialist, suggesting missed opportunities during doctor-patient conversations.
objectiveTo understand doctor-patient communication around the significance of persistent or new presenting problems and its potential impact on timely cancer diagnosis. RESEARCH
designQualitative thematic analysis based on video recordings of doctor-patient consultations in primary care and follow-up interviews with patients and doctors. 80 video observations, 20 patient interviews and 7 doctor interviews across 7 general practices in England.
resultsWe found that timeliness of diagnosis may be adversely affected if doctors and patients do not come to an agreement about the presenting problem's significance. 'Disagreements' may involve misaligned cognitive factors such as differences in medical knowledge between doctor and patient or misaligned emotional factors such as patients' unexpressed fear of diagnostic procedures. Interviews suggested that conversations where the difference in views is either not recognised or stays unresolved may lead to unhelpful patient behaviour after the consultation (eg, non-attendance at specialist appointments), creating potential for diagnostic delay and patient harm.
conclusionsOur findings highlight how doctor-patient consultations can impact timely diagnosis when patients present with persistent or new problems. Misalignments were common and could go unnoticed, leaving gaps for potential to cause patient harm. These findings have implications for timely diagnosis of cancer and other serious disease because they highlight the complexity and fluidity of the consultation and the subsequent impact on the diagnostic process.
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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.