A comparison of general practice encounters with patients from English-speaking and non-English-speaking backgrounds

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether doctor¿patient encounters in general practice with patients from a non-English-speaking background (NESB) differ from encounters with patients of English-speaking background (ESB) in terms of the type of practice where the encounters occur and the type of problems managed. Design and setting: A national cross-sectional survey of GP¿patient encounters from a sample of all active registered GPs in Australia. Participants: A random sample of 1047 GPs recruited in the 12 months from April 1999 to March 2000, each providing details of 100 consecutive patient encounters. Main outcome measures: GP demographics, practice characteristics, patient demographics (including whether the patient mainly spoke a language other than English at home), and problems managed at the encounter.