General practitioners and professional satisfaction.

One hundred and eighty-five general practitioners participated in a study regarding satisfaction from the doctor-patient relationship. Of these, 71% responded in writing to an open-ended item concerning personal satisfaction. Written responses were assigned to one or more of nine groupings formed by considering the content of general practice and conceptualising characteristics of the doctor-patient relationship. Four characteristics--activity, authority, objectivity and radionality (the clinical model) were assigned 299 written responses. Four characteristics--affinity, continuity, intimacy and reciprocity (the relational model) were assigned 287 responses. The paper discusses the two models, their respective characteristics and physician responses.