What do GPs need to know? The use of knowledge in general practice consultations.

In the course of the consultation in primary care, the general practitioner integrates knowledge of different types that are drawn from different sources. As a consequence of the way practitioners develop expertise, this use of knowledge is often hidden from the conscious mind of the practitioner and often hidden from direct observation. On the other hand, understanding of this use of knowledge is crucial to several necessary developments of the profession of general practice. A method involving collaboration between researcher and practitioner sheds new light on this knowledge-in-use.