چکیده (انگلیسی):

Background:Chronic conditions are the most common themes in doctor-patient communication, especially for older
patients with multimorbidity and their GPs. Former quantitative studies identified a variety of socio-demographic and
health-related factors which were associated with the (dis-)agreement between medical records and patient self-reported
diseases. The aim of this qualitative study was to identify reasons for disagreement regarding illnesses between patients
and their GPs.
Methods:We conducted three focus groups with GPs (n = 15) and three focus groups with multimorbid patients aged
65 to 85 (n = 21). The participants were recruited from the MultiCare Cohort Study. Focus groups were audiotaped and
transcribed verbatim. The transcripts of the focus groups were analysed using the qualitative content analysis according
to Mayring. Categories were determined deductively and inductively.
Results:The analysis revealed seven themes concerning reasons for disagreement regarding illnesses between patients
and their GPs: problems with communication and cooperation between health care professionals, disease management
by the GP and the patient, the documentation behaviour of the GP, communication challenges between GP and patient,
differences in the understanding of a disease between GP and patient, the prioritization and rating of diseases by GP and
patient and obliviousness, repression and avoidance by the patient.
Conclusions:For older patients with multimorbidity, our study demonstrated that there is a need to enhance the
cooperation between GPs, specialists and outpatient care, a demand to improve doctor-patient communication and a
need for interventions to increase patients’ knowledge of diseases.