Users’ understanding of medical knowledge in general practice

摘要: Abstract Much emphasis is now being placed on the quality of medical care, and various ways are developed to assess knowledge general practitioners. It increasingly recognised that users perspective health care important, views professionals do not cannot represent patients’ views. In order explore whether or a large-scale survey, which asked people rate their doctors’ knowledge, yielded meaningful results, this paper draws findings from study involving in-depth interviews with 26 lay who had already completed General Practice Assessment Survey questionnaire. When completing questionnaires, patients been consider ‘technical care’ provided by practitioners make judgement about knowledge. interviewed at later date, some explained they defined as ‘disease treatments’, while others it ‘whole person’, knowledgeable doctor one would acknowledge uncertainty. Patients appeared have made judgements practitioners’ based many factors, such experience illness, perceptions professional training, contact other in both primary secondary exposure media. The discusses nature concludes although patient surveys useful for evaluation interpersonal access asking may yield invalid results. This partly because different ways, appears relatively few enough own particular illnesses, possible alternative treatments, informed