General practitioners’ perceptions of their role and their collaboration with district nurses in wound care

AIM: To explore the perceptions of general practitioners (GPs) regarding their role and their collaboration with district nurses (DNs) in the management of leg ulcers in primary healthcare. BACKGROUND: Earlier research regarding the treatment of leg ulcers in a primary care context has focussed primarily on wound healing. Less is known about GPs’ understandings of their role and their collaboration with DNs in the management of leg ulcers. Since the structured care of patients with leg ulcers involving both GP and DN is currently rather uncommon in Swedish primary care, this study sets out to highlight these aspects from the GP’s perspective. METHODS: Semi-structured individual interviews with 16 GPs including both private and county council run healthcare centres. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. RESULTS: Four themes were identified. The first theme: ‘role as consultant and coordinator’ shows how the GPs perceived their role in wound care. In the second theme: ‘responsibility for diagnosis’ the GPs’ views on responsibility for wound diagnosis is presented. The third theme: ‘desire for continuity’ is based on the GPs’ desire for continuity concerning various aspects. In the fourth theme: ‘collaboration within the organisation’ the importance of the organisation for collaboration between GPs and DNs is presented. CONCLUSIONS: The GP’s often work on a consultation-like basis and feel that they become involved late in the patients’ wound treatment. This can have negative consequences for the medical diagnosis and, thereby, lead to a prolonged healing time for the patient. Shortcomings regarding collaboration are mainly attributed to organisational factors.