Facilitators of good consultations in primary health care clinics in Botswana: a qualitative study of patients' and doctors' views.

Authors

V Setlhare, S Madiba

Published in

BMC primary care. Jul 11, 2026. Epub Jul 11, 2026.

Abstract

The behaviours and attributes of doctors affect the quality of consultations. Although good consultations improve the quality of care, there is a dearth of evidence on factors that facilitate good consultations.
The aim of the study was to explore factors that facilitate good consultations in Botswana public primary healthcare (PHC) clinics from the perspective of doctors and patients.
We conducted the study in public (PHC) clinics in four health districts of Botswana. Patients with a wide range of acute and chronic diseases sought health care from these clinics. Nurses, pharmacists, and non-specialist doctors were some of the healthcare (HCWs) who gave services to these patients.
This was a qualitative study in which consenting adult participants (doctors and patients) with consultation experience were purposively selected to ensure variety in age, gender, work experience, place of residence, education and employment status. Participants were recruited from public PHC clinics in several health districts in Botswana. Audiotaped semi-structured interviews were used to collect data, until saturation. Data were analysed for themes.
Seventeen doctors and 32 patients participated in this study. Thematic analysis of the data showed that participants thought the facilitators of good consultations were, creating a conducive environment for the consultation, providing enough time for the consultation, continuity of care, effective communication, and creating an environment to maintain confidentiality.
The facilitators of good consultations included creating rapport between doctors and patients, improving the ambience of the consultation rooms, ensuring continuity of care, maintaining effective and mutually acceptable communication, and satisfying patients' desire for the confidentiality of consultations. On deep reflection, we can see that these facilitators are subject to central government, local government, clinic, and individual level factors. These factors interact with each other and are subsumed in a complex interactive health system.

PMID:
42436419
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 12 Jul 2026.

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