ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners1997
The general practitioner, the drug misuser, and the alcohol misuser: major differences in general practitioner activity, therapeutic commitment, and 'shared care' proposals.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 1997. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 3 of them syntheses 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
20 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Physician Reluctance to Intervene in Addiction: A Systematic Review.JAMA network open · 2024Pooled it
- Using Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research to investigate facilitators and barriers of implementing alcohol screening and brief intervention among primary care health professionals: a systematic review.Implementation science : IS · 2021Pooled it
- Factors influencing the implementation of screening and brief interventions for alcohol use in primary care practices: a systematic review using the COM-B system and Theoretical Domains Framework.Implementation science : IS · 2021Pooled it
- Methadone treatment practices and outcome for opiate addicts treated in drug clinics and in general practice: results from the National Treatment Outcome Research Study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 1999Trial
- Primary healthcare professionals' attitudes toward patients with current or previous drug use.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2024Article
- Perceptions, professional responsibility and management experiences of patients with alcohol, tobacco and opioid use disorder by residents in general practice and teaching general practitioners.The European journal of general practice · 2021Observational
- General practice patients treated for substance use problems: a cross-national observational study in Belgium.BMC public health · 2016Observational
- Differences between Groups of Family Physicians with Different Attitudes towards At-Risk Drinkers: A Post Hoc Study of the ODHIN Survey in Portugal.International journal of family medicine · 2016Article
- A cross-sectional study describing factors associated with utilisation of GP services by a cohort of people who inject drugs.BMC health services research · 2014Article
- What factors determine Belgian general practitioners' approaches to detecting and managing substance abuse? A qualitative study based on the I-Change Model.BMC family practice · 2014Article
- Undergraduate medical education in substance use in Ireland: a review of the literature and discussion paper.Irish journal of medical science · 2011Review
- Short-term outcomes in patients attending a primary care-based addiction shared care program.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2009Article
- Opioids for managing chronic non-malignant pain: safe and effective prescribing.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2006Review
- Managing acutely ill substance-abusing patients in an integrated day hospital outpatient program: medical therapies, complications, and overall treatment outcomes.Journal of general internal medicine · 2006Article
- Prevalence of problem-related drinking among doctors: a review on representative samples.German medical science : GMS e-journal · 2005Article
- The prescribing of methadone and other opioids to addicts: national survey of GPs in England and Wales.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2005Article
- Difficult behaviour in drug-misusing and non-drug-misusing patients in general practice--a comparison.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2001Article
- Our Healthier Nation: are general practitioners willing and able to deliver? A survey of attitudes to and involvement in health promotion and lifestyle counselling.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 1999Article
- Tackling alcohol misuse: opportunities and obstacles in primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 1998Review
- Primary care services for problem drug users.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 1998Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe primary care setting has been regarded in government policy and the scientific literature as an ideal setting for the work needed to meet the Health of the Nation drug and alcohol targets. Although studies have pointed to the negative attitudes held by general practitioners (GPs) towards alcohol- and drug-misusing patients, there has been no direct comparison of the work and attitudes of the GP towards these patients.
aimTo compare the work and attitudes of GPs towards alcohol- and drug-misusing patients.
methodAll GPs in an outer London area (157 doctors) were surveyed, using an eight-page postal questionnaire, collecting clinical and attitudinal data alongside demographics and practice information. A response rate of 52% was achieved.
resultsGeneral practitioners reported working with only 3.5 patients drinking above recommended guidelines in the previous four working weeks, and even fewer drug-using patients (0.75). While they viewed the alcohol-misusing patients negatively, the drug misuser elicited substantially more negative attitudes. The primary care setting was seen as appropriate to work with the alcohol-misusing patient but not with drug users. Training and support from local services would encourage substantially more GPs to work with alcohol misusers but not with drug misusers.
conclusionsOur findings indicate that there are some cautious grounds for optimism that GPs are willing to work with alcohol misusers; however, with regard to drug misusers, we find a GP workforce that is only minimally involved with this group and would not be greatly encouraged by the provision of additional training, support, or incentives. The Health of the Nation targets are not being met, and GPs are not detecting adequate numbers of the patients at whom these targets are aimed. Emphasis has been placed on the role of primary care, but the real achievements that can be made require detection of the less severe drinkers and injecting drug misusers.
Indexed as
Identifiers
9519515PMC1409931What 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.