BMJ  2004;329:685 (18 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7467.685-c

Letter

Sharing workload in group practices

Unfairness and early experience colour perception of inequality

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

EDITOR—Branson and Armstrong's study shows that perceived inequality remains an issue for general practitioners.¹ Some years ago, when I was conducting a follow up study of my 1983 cohort, I found that depression in senior general practitioners was best predicted by perceived envious sibling relationships when young, as measured when they were students.² Almost all had siblings.

This suggested to me that perhaps one reason that doctors enter the family milieu of general practice is to recreate earlier family life, the good or the bad. Those with a poor early experience may perceive the inevitable inequalities of working life rather faster and more negatively than others.

If such a finding held good in other studies, then it may be quite difficult to "cure" the current workplace problem in any simple manner.

Hillside, Garth Row, Kendal LA8 9AT jencozens1@aol.com

---

Competing interests: None declared.

1. Branson R, Armstrong D. General practitioners' perceptions of sharing workload in group practice: qualitative study. BMJ 2004;329: 381. (14 August.)[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. Firth-Cozens, J. Individual and organizational predictors of depression in general practitioners. British Journal of General Practice 1998;48: 1647-51.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

General practitioners' perceptions of sharing workload in group practices: qualitative study

Ruben Branson and David Armstrong
BMJ 2004 329: 381. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Online poll

Find out more>>