Knowledge mobilisation: an ethnographic study of the influence of practitioner mindlines on atopic eczema self-management in primary care in the UK

OBJECTIVE: To explore how atopic eczema specific mindlines are developed by primary care practitioners. DESIGN: Ethnographic study. SETTING: One large, urban general practice in central England. PARTICIPANTS: In observation, all practitioners and support staff in the practice and in interviews a diverse group of practitioners (n=16). RESULTS: Observation of over 250 hours and interview data were combined and analysed using an ethnographic approach through the lenses of mindlines and self-management. Three themes were identified: beliefs about eczema, eczema knowledge and approaches to self-management. Eczema mindlines are set against a backdrop of it being a low priority and not managed as a long-term condition. Practitioners believed that eczema is simple to manage with little change in treatments available and prescribing limited by local formularies. Practice is largely based on tacit knowledge and experience. Self-management is expected but not often explicitly facilitated. Clinical decisions are made from knowledge accumulated over time. Societal and technological developments have altered the way in which practitioner mindlines are developed; in eczema, for most, they are relatively static. CONCLUSIONS: The outstanding challenge is to find novel, profession and context-specific, simple, pragmatic strategies to revise or modify practitioner mindlines by adding reliable and useful knowledge and by erasing outdated or inaccurate information thus potentially improve quality of eczema care.