Osteopaths’ referral to other health care providers in England. What does influence the choice of the practitioner? An exploratory qualitative study.
Item
- Title
- Osteopaths’ referral to other health care providers in England. What does influence the choice of the practitioner? An exploratory qualitative study.
- Author(s)
- Ollier, S
- Abstract
- Osteopaths' referral to other health care providers in England. What does influence the choice of the practitioner ? An exploratory qualitative study The osteopathic practice standards from the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) state that osteopaths should, when appropriate, consider referring their patients to professionals that they believe are competent. There is a paucity of data concerning the referral habits of osteopaths in England and the views of osteopaths about what a 'competent health care professional' is. The aim of the exploratory study is to explore the factors that influence osteopaths in the choice of another health care practitioner in the referral process. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of eleven osteopaths. Transcripts of the interviews were analysed using the Framework approach. This study suggests that several factors influence osteopaths in the choice of another health care provider in the referral process. Personal professional limitations and other professionals' ability to help appear to be two key concepts. It was also noted that osteopaths do not always have a good knowledge of other health care practitioners' scope of practice, which leads to a decreased rate of referral to the group of providers involved. The lack of trust of other health care providers is another important theme that emerges. This exploratory study also shows that in the referral process osteopaths see themselves as dvisers rather than decision-makers. Data analysis also reveals that the choice of a ~ pecific practitioner is based on two main factors: the provider's reputation and the way osteopaths perceive the practitioner in question in reference to their own personal experience, the practitioner's speciality, the practitioner's personality and the practitioner's professional experience.In the light of the findings of this study and previous publications, it would be interesting to conduct further research about osteopaths' opinions on other complementary and alternative therapies and their views about the place of osteopathy in the U K health care system. Other key areas for further study would be the development of occupational control during osteopathic education and/or career, osteopaths' attitude towards evidence-based practice and the models involved in osteopathic treatment decision-making. Due to the limitation of the study the results are not viewed as being necessarily generalizable. Further research is needed to confirm the findings
- presented at
- European School of Osteopathy
- Date Accepted
- 2011
- Date Submitted
- 22.1.2013 16:23:36
- Type
- osteo_thesis
- Language
- English
- Submitted by:
- 62
- Pub-Identifier
- 15292
- Inst-Identifier
- 1229
- Keywords
- Osteopathic practice; Health care providers; England.
- Recommended
- 0
- Item sets
- Thesis
Ollier, S, “Osteopaths’ referral to other health care providers in England. What does influence the choice of the practitioner? An exploratory qualitative study.”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed May 17, 2024, https://www.osteopathicresearch.com/s/orw/item/773