A NEW study to examine the factors that Irish GPs take into account when issuing sick certificates to employees will involve some 300 GPs filling in a detailed structured questionnaire, according to its author.
Michelle Smith, who has a background in epidemiology, is carrying out the research for her PhD at the School of Health Sciences at Waterford Institute of Technology and hopes that her findings will have an impact on future policymaking.
“I hope my research will highlight the key support required for GPs and that it might have some influence in areas such as employer links and reporting networks,” said Ms Smith, who plans to carry out the research in two phases.
Ms Smith explained that the first phase would involve carrying out qualitative semi-structured interviews with some 15 GPs and she would then use these interviews to guide her in constructing a structured questionnaire which she plans to distribute to 300 family doctors.
The study will be structured to ensure a representative sample of GPs in terms of their gender and years of practice as well as geography with respondents being spread across four categories of urban, rural, suburban and remote, she explained.
Ms Smith, whose research is being supervised by the Centre for Occupational Environmental Health within the School of Translational Medicine at the University of Manchester, said a key focus would be on GPs’ education and training.
“I hope to try to establish what level of education and training GPs have in terms of post-graduate qualifications in relation to occupational medicine,” said Ms Smith, adding that little research had been done on the entire area of sick certification in Ireland.
“This is a complex area for GPs and there has been very little research in an Irish context to date with a heavy reliance on anecdotal evidence as well as a general unease on the part of employers that the system may be open to abuse,” she added.
Ms Smith noted recent comments by ISME’s chief executive, Mark Fielding, that unauthorised absences were being tacitly condoned by the medical profession because they were “too busy to investigate and advise and too fearful of our litigious environment”.
“Mr Fielding’s claim that some GPs ‘issue certs like snuff at a wake’ drew a swift response from doctors . . . there is a great need to look at the complexity of this issue from the perspective of GPs so that operational strategies can be improved for all stakeholders,” she said.
Anyone who wishes to participate in the study or requires further information can do so by contacting Michelle Smith via e-mail at msmith@wit.ie.
