Skip to main content

Table 4 Cultural differences found between specialist care and primary care for patients with home care needs

From: Development of a patient-centred care pathway across healthcare providers: a qualitative study

Activity

Specialist care

Primary care

Planning

Short perspective – major changes in a short time

Long perspective – small changes over time

Assessment

Diagnosis with advanced technology

Functional ability, patient preferences and degree of self-management

Diseases

Attention to one disease at a time

Simultaneous attention to all of the diseases patients have; a majority of patients have multiple diseases

Clinical guidelines

Strong adherence to clinical guidelines

Clinical guidelines for multi-morbidity hardly exist

Patient role

Passive; health personnel decide what has to be done

At home the patient decides; focus is on resuming daily activities

Decision making

Often in teams, many involved, and in a confirmed hierarchical structure

Often by health personnel alone or by few; more autonomous