[Approaches of general practitioners and patients to multimorbidity. Qualitative study]

For general practioners (GP) the treatment of patients suffering from multimorbidity is an everyday challenge. For these patients guidelines which each focus on a specific chronic disease cannot be applied comprehensively and equally; therefore, it is necessary to prioritize.

Given this situation the study aimed at analyzing how GPs and patients deal with this challenge and what their priorities are.

Narrative interviews were conducted with 9 GPs and 19 of their multimorbid patients. The data were analyzed by means of content analysis.

The majority of interviewed patients felt well or very well cared for by their GPs; however, GPs and multimorbid patients often had relatively different priorities. Whereas GPs mostly focused on the management of diseases that could lead to life-threatening situations, patients put an emphasis on maintaining autonomy and a social life.

The results of this study suggest that there is room for development in the way GPs and multimorbid patients communicate with each other, particularly as far as shared priority setting is concerned.