“Please listen to me, I want to know what is wrong with my shoulder”: A qualitative study exploring patients’ expectations and experiences with primary care management.

Background: The management of shoulder pain is challenging for primary care clinicians considering that 40% of affected individuals remain symptomatic one year after initial consultation. Developing tailored knowledge translation interventions founded on evidence-based recommendations while also considering patients’ expectations could improve primary care for shoulder pain. The aim of this qualitative study is to explore patients’ expectations and experiences of their primary care consultation for shoulder pain. Methods: : In this qualitative study, participants with shoulder pain and having consulted a primary care physician in the past year were interviewed. All the semi-structured interviews were transcribed into verbatims, and inductive thematic analysis was performed to identify themes related to the participants’ expectations and experiences of primary care consultations for shoulder pain. Results: : Thirteen participants with shoulder pain were interviewed (8 women, 5 men; mean age 50 ± 12 years). Eleven of them initially consulted a family or an emergency physician, and two participants initially consulted a physiotherapist. Four overarching themes related to patients’ expectations and experiences were identified from our thematic analysis: 1) I can’t sleep because of my shoulder ; 2) I need to know what is happening with my shoulder ; 3) But… we need to really see what is going on to help me! ; and 4) Please take some time with me so I can understand what to d o!. Several participants waited until they experienced a high level of shoulder pain before making an appointment since they were not confident about what their family physician could do to manage their condition. Although some participants felt that their physician took the time to listened to their concerns, many were dissatisfied with the limited assessment and education provided by the clinician. Conclusions: : Implementing evidence-based recommendations while also considering patients’ expectations is important as it may improve care delivery and patients’ satisfaction with care. Several participants reported that their expectations were not met, especially when it came to the explanations provided. One unexpected finding that emerged from this study was the delay between the onset of shoulder pain and when patients decided to consult their primary care clinician.