[General practitioners' health care for disabled patients: a survey among a panel of general practitioners in...

This article presents a study on General Practitioners' (GPs) knowledge, attitudes and practice towards disabled patients.

A sample of 600 private general practitioners practising in Southeastern France was selected in 2002 with a random sampling approach stratified according to age, sex, and size of the urban unit.

A standardised questionnaire was used to collect data by telephone. Results are presented as percentages. Comparisons used Pearson's chi2 test.

Ninety percent of the GPs reported that they had to provide social assistance to their disabled patients (protecting their rights, administrative assistance, family counselor, etc.) as well as coordinating care by various other professionals. GPs frequently reported the presence of barriers that compromised the health care of disabled patients: lack of information (62.8%), time (50.2%), co-ordination between health professionals (37.7%), and training (37.7%), as well as communication problems (20.7%) and the need for assistance in clinical examinations (16.2%). More than 25% of the GPs suggested breast cancer screening (27.6%), contraceptive prevention (29.5%) or hepatitis B vaccination (29,3%) less often to their disabled than non disabled patients and 25.8% reported they had not evaluated the patients' dependency levels.

This study suggests that GPs face several barriers in caring for disabled persons. A lack of knowledge may explain inappropriate care for this population. GPs need more support and guidance in dealing with disabled patients, and coordination with other health professionals must be encouraged.