Receptionists' role in new approaches to consultations in primary care: a focused ethnographic study
Receptionists' role in new approaches to consultations in primary care: a focused ethnographic study
Background: the receptionist is pivotal to the smooth running of general practice in the UK, communicating with patients and booking appointments.
Aim: the authors aimed to explore the role of the receptionist in the implementation of new approaches to consultations in primary care.
Design and setting: the authors conducted a team-based focused ethnography. Three researchers observed eight general practices across England and Scotland between June 2015 and May 2016.
Method: interviews were conducted with 39 patients and 45 staff in the practices, all of which had adopted one or more methods (telephone, email, e-consultation, or internet video) for providing an alternative to face-to-face consultation.
Results: receptionists have a key role in facilitating patient awareness regarding new approaches to consultations in primary care, while at the same time ensuring that patients receive a consultation appropriate to their needs. In this study, receptionists’ involvement in implementation and planning for the introduction of alternative approaches to face-to-face consultations was minimal, despite the expectation that they would be involved in delivery.
Conclusion: a shared understanding within practices of the potential difficulties and extra work that might ensue for reception staff was lacking. This might contribute to the low uptake by patients of potentially important innovations in service delivery. Involvement of the wider practice team in planning and piloting changes, supporting team members through service reconfiguration, and providing an opportunity to discuss and contribute to modifications of any new system would ensure that reception staff are suitably prepared to support the introduction of a new approach to consultations.
e478-e486
Brant, Heather Dawn
36353e3e-7558-48e0-a169-f31e5a208023
Atherton, Helen
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Bikker, Annemieke
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Porqueddu, Tania
a10aec25-fcde-45af-994d-9d799e06783d
Salisbury, Chris
50e9a5a0-c074-4af8-9b1b-e1e8408aae3c
McKinstry, Brian
63563c1a-feed-42b7-8288-ebbd1d6b3dad
Campbell, John
40fcc705-8391-4cde-bb69-266bbb7f23ed
Gibson, Andy
ffc74e7a-73a0-4ec8-ba28-d0c375d1f708
Ziebland, Sue
9a00bdc5-7b90-4dae-a503-1799f5e80b17
July 2018
Brant, Heather Dawn
36353e3e-7558-48e0-a169-f31e5a208023
Atherton, Helen
9bb8932e-7bb7-4781-ab97-114613de99b1
Bikker, Annemieke
c0adc13d-aa6e-495f-b616-9ffe34efe4f8
Porqueddu, Tania
a10aec25-fcde-45af-994d-9d799e06783d
Salisbury, Chris
50e9a5a0-c074-4af8-9b1b-e1e8408aae3c
McKinstry, Brian
63563c1a-feed-42b7-8288-ebbd1d6b3dad
Campbell, John
40fcc705-8391-4cde-bb69-266bbb7f23ed
Gibson, Andy
ffc74e7a-73a0-4ec8-ba28-d0c375d1f708
Ziebland, Sue
9a00bdc5-7b90-4dae-a503-1799f5e80b17
Brant, Heather Dawn, Atherton, Helen, Bikker, Annemieke, Porqueddu, Tania, Salisbury, Chris, McKinstry, Brian, Campbell, John, Gibson, Andy and Ziebland, Sue
(2018)
Receptionists' role in new approaches to consultations in primary care: a focused ethnographic study.
British Journal of General Practice, 68 (672), .
(doi:10.3399/bjgp18X697505).
Abstract
Background: the receptionist is pivotal to the smooth running of general practice in the UK, communicating with patients and booking appointments.
Aim: the authors aimed to explore the role of the receptionist in the implementation of new approaches to consultations in primary care.
Design and setting: the authors conducted a team-based focused ethnography. Three researchers observed eight general practices across England and Scotland between June 2015 and May 2016.
Method: interviews were conducted with 39 patients and 45 staff in the practices, all of which had adopted one or more methods (telephone, email, e-consultation, or internet video) for providing an alternative to face-to-face consultation.
Results: receptionists have a key role in facilitating patient awareness regarding new approaches to consultations in primary care, while at the same time ensuring that patients receive a consultation appropriate to their needs. In this study, receptionists’ involvement in implementation and planning for the introduction of alternative approaches to face-to-face consultations was minimal, despite the expectation that they would be involved in delivery.
Conclusion: a shared understanding within practices of the potential difficulties and extra work that might ensue for reception staff was lacking. This might contribute to the low uptake by patients of potentially important innovations in service delivery. Involvement of the wider practice team in planning and piloting changes, supporting team members through service reconfiguration, and providing an opportunity to discuss and contribute to modifications of any new system would ensure that reception staff are suitably prepared to support the introduction of a new approach to consultations.
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Accepted/In Press date: 20 March 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 28 June 2018
Published date: July 2018
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 486554
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/486554
ISSN: 0960-1643
PURE UUID: 0796975d-a3da-4d5b-9f7a-61a7f4bb45df
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Date deposited: 26 Jan 2024 17:32
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:18
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Contributors
Author:
Heather Dawn Brant
Author:
Helen Atherton
Author:
Annemieke Bikker
Author:
Tania Porqueddu
Author:
Chris Salisbury
Author:
Brian McKinstry
Author:
John Campbell
Author:
Andy Gibson
Author:
Sue Ziebland
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