Complex consultations - the impact of multimorbidity on consultations

As well as addressing patients’ presenting complaints, general practitioners (GPs) are expected to achieve multiple tasks in each consultation including screening, opportunistic health promotion, and the management of long term conditions. Since most consultations now involve patients with multiple long term conditions, with each condition subject to guidelines incentivised by the Quality and Outcomes Framework, this can make consultations very pressurised.

The aims of this research are to use recordings of general practice consultations to describe the number and types of problems discussed in typical consultations, the differences between problems raised by patients or by doctors, and how these variables are related to characteristics of patients and doctors. We will also explore differences between the number and types of problems discussed in consultations and recorded in electronic medical records.

Edit this page