An exploration of routine Primary Care consultations for skin problems
Research type
Research Study
Full title
“GP Skin”: An exploration of routine consultations for dermatology problems in adults in general practice.
IRAS ID
234598
Contact name
Emma Le Roux
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 12 months, days
Research summary
Skin complaints are the most common new problem in primary care. Many skin conditions are chronic, and managed with topical treatments. Treatments are often underused resulting in ongoing symptoms. Reasons for low topical treatment use include: confusion about treatment plans and under-appreciation by healthcare professionals of the psychosocial impact of the condition; the time-consuming nature of applying treatments; a perception of treatments being ineffective, and fears over medication side effects. Self-management has been shown to improve outcomes in long term conditions. One way to improve self-management might be through doctors using shared-decision making (SDM) to involve patients more in treatment decisions. Whilst improved self-management and SDM could improve outcomes in long term skin conditions, there has been little research exploring how consultations for skin conditions are conducted or how decisions are made. \nThe proposed study will examine consultations for skin complaints in adults in routine primary care using data already collected during the ‘Bristol Archive Project’ (REC 14/SW/0112) - an archive of video-recorded consultations plus linked data. Data linked to these consultations include: patient and GP questionnaires and related primary care medical records. 327 GP consultations, with 23 GPs, from 12 practices in the South-West were recorded between July 2014 to April 2015. 327 patients gave “Consent to current research team for research purposes beyond this project” subject to further ethical approval. Both MR and RB (project supervisor and advisor), are members of the original research team. This database is securely archived in the Bristol University Research Data Repository.\nWe aim to describe: the characteristics of patients and their consultations for skin problems (presentation, number and frequency of conditions); the extent of shared decision making for skin problems; the number and type of medication recommendations; the frequency and mode of delivery of self-management advice; follow-up arrangements, appointments and record keeping.\n
REC name
South West - Central Bristol Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/SW/0291
Date of REC Opinion
13 Dec 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion