TY - JOUR

T1 - General Practitioners' Perspectives on Appropriate Use of Ultrasonography in Primary Care in Denmark

T2 - A Multistage Mixed Methods Study

AU - Andersen, Camilla Aakjær

AU - Guetterman, Timothy C

AU - Fetters, Michael D

AU - Brodersen, John

AU - Davidsen, Annette Sofie

AU - Graumann, Ole

AU - Jensen, Martin Bach

N1 - © 2022 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - PURPOSE: Researchers aimed to describe general practitioners' understanding of appropriate ultrasound use, to record actual scanning practices of early adopters in general practice, and to identify differences between attitudes and actual practice via a mixed methods analysis.METHODS: This study was part of a larger multistage mixed methods research framework exploring the use of ultrasound in general practice in Denmark. We used an exploratory sequential approach in the data collection with initial qualitative findings from an interview study applied to building a quantitative questionnaire utilized in a cohort study. In addition, we merged the qualitative and quantitative data using joint display analysis to compare and contrast the results from the 2 stages of the study.RESULTS: In the interviews, general practitioners described appropriate ultrasound use as point-of-care examinations with a clear purpose and limited to predefined specific conditions within delimited anatomic areas. They stated that general practitioners should receive formalized ultrasound training and be skilled in the examinations they perform. In the cohort study, general practitioners performed ultrasound examinations of anatomic areas with or without a defined clinical suspicion. Some performed ultrasound examinations for which they had no previous training or skills.CONCLUSIONS: We found a difference between the ideas about the appropriate uses for ultrasound in general practice and the actual use by early adopters in clinical practice. Our findings suggest a need for evidence-based guidelines to support general practitioners in choosing which examinations to perform and strategies for developing and maintaining scanning competency.

AB - PURPOSE: Researchers aimed to describe general practitioners' understanding of appropriate ultrasound use, to record actual scanning practices of early adopters in general practice, and to identify differences between attitudes and actual practice via a mixed methods analysis.METHODS: This study was part of a larger multistage mixed methods research framework exploring the use of ultrasound in general practice in Denmark. We used an exploratory sequential approach in the data collection with initial qualitative findings from an interview study applied to building a quantitative questionnaire utilized in a cohort study. In addition, we merged the qualitative and quantitative data using joint display analysis to compare and contrast the results from the 2 stages of the study.RESULTS: In the interviews, general practitioners described appropriate ultrasound use as point-of-care examinations with a clear purpose and limited to predefined specific conditions within delimited anatomic areas. They stated that general practitioners should receive formalized ultrasound training and be skilled in the examinations they perform. In the cohort study, general practitioners performed ultrasound examinations of anatomic areas with or without a defined clinical suspicion. Some performed ultrasound examinations for which they had no previous training or skills.CONCLUSIONS: We found a difference between the ideas about the appropriate uses for ultrasound in general practice and the actual use by early adopters in clinical practice. Our findings suggest a need for evidence-based guidelines to support general practitioners in choosing which examinations to perform and strategies for developing and maintaining scanning competency.

KW - Cohort Studies

KW - Denmark

KW - General Practitioners

KW - Humans

KW - Primary Health Care

KW - Ultrasonography

U2 - 10.1370/afm.2795

DO - 10.1370/afm.2795

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35606122

VL - 20

SP - 211

EP - 219

JO - Annals of Family Medicine

JF - Annals of Family Medicine

SN - 1544-1709

IS - 3

ER -