BACKGROUND Physicians in the community work on a tight and often pressured schedule; verbal and non-verbal techniques to terminate the patient-physician encounter are therefore necessary. OBJECTIVES To characterize ways of terminating the encounter. METHODS Using a structured questionnaire we observed seven family physicians and nine consultants and recorded patient-physician encounters to ...

The 1981 Short report onmedical education in Britain recommended changes in the medical career structure.' Many other reports have addressed the fundamental problem associated with the traditional three tier structure of the consultant led team consisting of consultants, registrars, and house officers. In essence this problem arises from two conflicting requirements: the need to provide trainin...

BACKGROUND This paper is embedded in a randomised controlled trial (Alcohol and Employment) that investigated whether welfare-to-work schemes combined with alcohol treatment were more effective than welfare-to-work schemes alone for helping unemployed welfare recipients with alcohol problems get back to employment and reduce their alcohol problems. The implementation of Alcohol and Employment t...

Consultants with experience of GP intrapartum care believe it is safe for the low-risk woman. However, GPs are perceived as lacking enthusiasm and as having varying degrees of obstetric expertise. Consultants feel that women themselves are not requesting more intrapartum care from GPs.

‘A recognized but extremely rare complication results in an avoidable patient fatality. A structured debrief surfaces inadequate team safety training. Of the seven consultants in the specialty, five recognize the need for standardizing technique and implementing team training. Two of the consultants do not, and claim that the complication is just one of those things.’ (Author’s experiences of a...