Time pressured deprioritization of COPD in primary care: a qualitative study

Objective: To identify factors that hinder discussions regarding chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) between primary care physicians (PCPs) and their patients in Sweden. Setting: Primary health care centres (PHCCs) in Stockholm, Sweden. Subjects: A total of 59 PCPs. Design: Semi-structured individual and focus-group interviews between 2012 and 2014. Data were analysed inspired by grounded theory methods (GTM). Results: Time-pressured patient–doctor consultations lead to deprioritization of COPD. During unscheduled visits, deprioritization resulted from focusing only on acute health concerns, while during routine care visits, COPD was deprioritized in multi-morbid patients. The reasons PCPs gave for deprioritizing COPD are: “Not becoming aware of COPD”, “Not becoming concerned due to clinical features”, “Insufficient local routines for COPD care”, “Negative personal attitudes and views about COPD”, “Managing diagnoses one at a time”, and “Perceiving a patient’s motivation as low’’. Conclusions: De-prioritization of COPD was discovered during PCP consultations and several factors were identified associated with time constraints and multi-morbidity. A holistic consultation approach is suggested, plus extended consultation time for multi-morbid patients, and better documentation and local routines.

• Key points

• Under-diagnosis and insufficient management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are common in primary health care. A patient–doctor consultation offers a key opportunity to identify and provide COPD care.

  • Time pressure, due to either high number of patients or multi-morbidity, leads to omission or deprioritization of COPD during consultation.

  • Deprioritization occurs due to lack of awareness, concern, and local routines, negative personal views, non-holistic consultation approach, and low patient motivation.

  • Better local routines, extended consultation time, and a holistic approach are needed when managing multi-morbid patients with COPD.