Consultation in general practice: a standard operating procedure?

The objectives of this study were to describe the features of consultation within general practice with special attention to the differences between short, moderate and long consultations. An analysis of 2801 videotaped consultations of 183 General Practitioners from six countries participating in the Eurocommunication Study was made. The communicative behaviour was gauged by means of the Roter Interaction Analysis System. The consultation can be seen as a "standard operating procedure" consisting of 8% social behaviour, 15% agreement, 4% rapport building, 10% partnership building, 11% giving directions, 28% giving information, 14% asking questions and 7% counselling. A short consultation can be described as an encounter with a little bit of social behaviour to set the contact, medical questioning, giving directions for the further consultation and advises in order to solve the problem(s) mentioned. In a long consultation doctors take more time for a social talk, they give more attention to the relation or contact with the patient, they listen more extensively, especially to psychosocial problems, and they give more information.