Abstract
BackgroundFamily doctors should care for individuals in the context of their family. Family has a powerful influence on health and illness and family interventions have been shown to improve health outcomes for a variety of health problems. The aim of the study was to investigate the Estonian family doctors' (FD) attitudes to the patients' family-related issues in their work: to explore the degree of FDs involvement in family matters, their preparedness for management of family-related issues and their self-assessment of the ability to manage different family-related problems.MethodsA random sample (n = 236) of all FDs in Estonia was investigated using a postal questionnaire. Altogether 151 FDs responded to the questionnaire (response rate 64%), while five of them were excluded as they did not actually work as FDs.ResultsOf the respondents, 90% thought that in managing the health problems of patients FDs should communicate and cooperate with family members. Although most of the family doctors agreed that modifying of the health damaging risk factors (smoking, alcohol and drug abuse) of their patients and families is their task, one third of them felt that dealing with these problems is ineffective, or perceived themselves as poorly prepared or having too little time for such activities. Of the respondents, 58% (n = 83) were of the opinion that they could modify also relationship problems.ConclusionsEstonian family doctors are favourably disposed to involvement in family-related problems, however, they need some additional training, especially in the field of relationship management.
Highlights
Doctors should care for individuals in the context of their family
The family doctors' (FD) were asked whether their patients have registered on the list by families or not and whether they regard it as appropriate that the family should be cared by one doctor, or whether they think that children should have a separate primary care physician
Respondents' characteristics The mean age of the respondents was 46 (± 8) years, the mean length of the period during which they had worked in primary health care was 18 (± 9) years and the mean size of the list was 1800 (± 513) patients
Summary
Doctors should care for individuals in the context of their family. The aim of the study was to investigate the Estonian family doctors' (FD) attitudes to the patients' family-related issues in their work: to explore the degree of FDs involvement in family matters, their preparedness for management of family-related issues and their self-assessment of the ability to manage different family-related problems. There are significant differences in the way how primary health care is organised in Europe [1]. The primary health care system functioned according to the Soviet model, which was basically a specialist-oriented system [3]. In 1991, the training of family doctors was launched, both 3-year postgraduate residence training, as well as the retraining of currently practising primary care physicians through attending different courses at the University of Tartu parallel with their everyday practice.
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