Clinical Uncertainty in Primary Care ― The Challenge of Collaborative Engagement

This book surveys clinical uncertainty in primary care and primary care education, offering definitions, research on effects, methods for dealing with uncertainty and details of the practice inquiry process as it is applied in a variety of clinical settings.

Lucia Siegel Sommers is an educator and health services researcher with a 40-year history of working with clinician small groups. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania; a masters in social work from Bryn Mawr University; a doctorate in public health from the University of California, Berkeley; and completed a 2-year fellowship in health services research at Stanford University. From 1994 through 2001, Lucia was a full-time faculty member in the Internal Medicine Residency Program at St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco and Associate Program Director from 1997 to 2001. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California San Francisco where she has taught medical students since 1996. Her published research includes studies focused on the effectiveness of medical audit, nurse-physician collaboration to improve care and reduce costs in hospitals, and interdisciplinary care for the frail elderly in the primary care office setting. John Launer is a family physician, family therapist, educator and writer. He graduated in English at Cambridge before studying medicine at London University. After obtaining Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners with distinction in 1983, he worked for 22 years as a GP in Edmonton, north London, and continues to work as a part-time GP. In 1994 he completed training at the Tavistock Clinic as a family therapist and joined the senior staff there as honorary consultant in general practice and primary care. Since then his teaching and clinical work has drawn together ideas from family medicine and family therapy, with a focus on narrative and clinical supervision. John is an Associate Dean for Postgraduate Medical Education at London University, and has published five previous books as author or editor, including ‘Narrative-Based Primary Care: A Practical Guide.’ He has lectured and run workshops internationally, including in the USA, Canada, Scandinavia, Israel and Japan.