Innovation and testing in general practitioners' practice - the challenging path from idea to new practice

General practitioners (GPs) need tools and working methods to deal with sick listed patients' multifaceted needs as well as to collaborate with stakeholders such as the employer or the social welfare counsellor. This study explored GPs' experiences when testing the mapping and dialogue tool ISIVET in sick leave follow-up.

Individual interviews with seven GPs in salaried positions testing ISIVET in sick leave follow-up in a Norwegian municipality. Data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using systematic text condensation.

Five categories of experiences were identified: 1) positive perceptions of ISIVET in terms of visualizing the complexity of health and work conditions, 2) procedures and collection of research data made it difficult to test the tool, 3) unclear ownership and anchoring, 4) difficulties with experimentation in demanding working days and 5) close follow-up during training followed by a lack of sharing experiences.

Despite positive GP perceptions of ISIVET in sick leave follow-up, the testing 'failed' due to difficulties during the testing overshadowing the benefits. This was primarily due to poor technological and practical adaptions of the use of the tool in a busy GP's working day. Secondly, a weak local anchoring with lack of follow-up and sharing of experiences, influenced the use of ISIVET negatively. If further testing of ISIVET in primary care is carried out, it would be necessary to simplify and adapt the use of the tool extensively. Given the positive perceptions of ISIVET, one could consider new adaptions and further testing according to these experiences.