Table.
Frequency of influences on hospital admission extracted from interviews with 51 patients admitted to hospital with asthma and 17 of their general practitioners
| Influence | Total |
|---|---|
| Poor understanding of self management skills | 31 |
| Belief that hospital is best place to be treated | 25 |
| Confidence in general practitioner | 23 |
| Simple access to general practitioner | 16 |
| Poor understanding of how medication works | 15 |
| Family support | 14 |
| Confidence in control | 14 |
| Lack of confidence in general practitioner | 14 |
| Good adherence | 14 |
| Stress | 13 |
| Poor adherence | 13 |
| Passive or resigned perspectives | 12 |
| Understands action of medications | 11 |
| Failure to diagnose asthma exacerbation or prescription of antibiotics | 10 |
| Severe asthma | 9 |
| Understands medical self management behaviour | 8 |
| Comorbidity—physical | 7 |
| Comorbidity—mental | 7 |
| Brittle asthma—sudden onset | 7 |
| Poor access—general practitioner won't visit | 7 |
| Good general practice asthma strategy | 7 |
| General practice has an asthma clinic | 7 |
| Poor access to out of hours care, patient did not try to call | 7 |
| No asthma clinic | 6 |
| Continuity of care | 5 |
| Stress—family illness | 4 |
| Delayed calling general practitioner as believed could manage alone | 4 |
| Failure to prescribe oral corticosteroids | 4 |
| Does not attend specialist clinic | 4 |
| Uses home nebuliser | 4 |
| Attends specialist clinic | 4 |
| General practitioner asks to review before prescription given | 4 |
| No proactive asthma care (strategy) by general practitioner | 4 |
| Poor access to general practitioner—can't get appointment | 4 |
| Oral corticosteroids begun by general practitioner | 3 |
| General practice has no nurse | 3 |
| Poor continuity of care—locum doctor | 3 |
| Poor access to general practitioner | 3 |
| Poor access—out of hours service declines to visit | 3 |
| Poor access to general practitioner out of hours | 3 |
| Poverty | 2 |
| Lives far from general practice | 2 |
| Undertreatment | 2 |
| Poor trust of general practitioner—cost cutting | 2 |
| Language not a problem | 2 |
| Not seeing patient before prescribing | 2 |
| Out of hours doctor tells patient to go to hospital | 2 |
| Lack of family support | 1 |
| Hates idea of being in hospital | 1 |
| Poor access to general practitioner—patient can't come in because of working hours | 1 |
| General practitioner seeks to review regularly | 1 |
| General practitioner treats asthmatic patients in the surgery | 1 |
| No review before routine treatment | 1 |
| Lack of defined role for nurse | 1 |
| Asthma not a priority for the practice | 1 |
| Failure to prescribe oral corticosteroids for home use | 1 |
| No health visitor | 1 |
| Not knowing patient—temporary resident | 1 |
| Poor continuity of care—group practice | 1 |
| Healthcall slow to visit | 1 |