No abstract

A majority of the GPs found sickness certification problematic. Most problems were related to professional competence in insurance medicine. Better possibilities to develop, maintain, and practise such professionalism are warranted.

Objective: Many physicians find sick-listing tasks problematic. The aim of this study was to identify categories of dilemmas experienced by physicians in their sick-listing practice. Design and subjects: Data was collected at courses that were aimed at improving physicians' sick-listing skills, arranged in different parts of Sweden. Before the course the participants, general practitioners (GP) sent in a written report of a sick-listing case they found problematic. The material consisted of group discussions of some 100 case reports from GPs. The process of categorisation of the dilemmas was a one-step, straightforward qualitative analysis. Results: Eight different categories of sick-listing dilemmas experienced by the physicians were identified. Examples of them are "Not the doctors' pigeon" (when the patients' problem was perceived as not being medical in nature), "Diagnosis as disguise" (when there is a discrepancy between how the patient describes the problems and what the physician apprehends), and "Harmed by sick listing -reversible" (when the physician perceives that the main problem is the iatrogenic adverse effects of sick listing per se). Implications: The contribution of the study is to provide understanding of and labels to the specific difficulties experienced by physicians in their sick-listing practice face to face with patients.

Some of the circumstances, such as prolonged sick-listing, are likely to be more or less inevitable in problematic sick-listing cases. Other circumstances, such as stress-full life events, more closely reflect what the reporting physicians find problematic. The categories identified can be regarded as markers of problematic sick-listing cases in general practice and occupational health service.

BackgroundMany physicians find sickness certification tasks problematic. There is some knowledge about situations that are experienced as problematic, whereas less is understood about how physicians respond to the problems they face. One way to acquire such knowledge is to consider "reflection-in-action", aspects of which are expressed in the physician's interpretation of the patient's story. The aim of this study was to gain knowledge about the meaning content of case reports about problematic sickness certification. Specifically, we looked for possible messages to the colleagues intended to read the reports.MethodsA narrative approach was used to analyse reports about problematic sickness certification cases that had been written by GPs and occupational health service physicians as part of a sickness insurance course. The analysis included elements from both thematic and structural analysis. Nineteen case reports were used in the actual analysis and 25 in the validation of the results. Main narrative qualities and structural features of the written case reports were explored.ResultsFive types of messages were identified in the case reports, here classified as "a call for help", "a call for understanding", "hidden worries", "in my opinion", and "appearing neutral". In the reports, the physicians tried to achieve neutrality in their writing, and the patients' stories tended to be interpreted within a traditional biomedical framework. In some cases there was an open request for help, in others it was not obvious that the physician had any problems. Overall, the messages were about having problems as such, rather than the specific features of the problems.ConclusionsThe case reports clearly demonstrated different ways of writing about problems that arise during sickness certification, from being neutral and not mentioning the problems to being emotionally involved and asking for help. The general character of the messages suggests that they are also relevant for case reports in problematic areas other than sickness certification. If pertinent relationships can be found between reflection-in-practice and the narrative writing about practice, they will provide an approach to further research concerning consultations perceived as problematic and also to medical education.