Chronic diseases represent a challenge for health systems and the professionals most involved in chronic care. Despite biomedical advances, the results of care for chronic problems are not as good as they should be.
To find out what doctors and patients think of care for some of the main chronic illnesses; to detect concrete areas of deficit and lack of satisfaction felt by both sides and possible lines of improvement; to raise mutual understanding between patients and doctors.
Forty-one patients with fibromyalgia or diabetes mellitus, carers for people with Alzheimer's and breast cancer patients. Forty-three family doctors involved in health care delivery to this kind of patient.
Four discussion groups. Transcription and syntactical, semantic and pragmatic contents analysis, with both pre-established and emerging categories of consensus.
Patients thought, with different nuances as a function of the problem put forward, that questions of respectful, human and integrated care, clear and suitable information, and consistent follow-up were important and insufficiently covered by doctors and health services. Doctors thought that many of their efforts in caring for these patients were useless, and thought it important to reconsider their clinical responsibilities and the patient-doctor relationship. Doctors highlighted the limitations in the health care resources available for working with these patients.
To tackle prevalent chronic problems requires, in the view of doctors and patients, important modifications that are related mainly to the kind of relationship between the two, with new clinical responsibilities and certain organisational care delivery features.