| Abstract | Upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) is often a minor and self-limiting illness, yet it is the commonest condition for which general practitioners (GPs) are consulted. In the four morbidity studies of private general practice in Hong Kong in 1980, 1982, 1986 and 1994, respiratory illnesses constituted about half of the consultations, and two-thirds of these were URTI. Since private practitioners provide about 70% of primary care services, a cross-sectional study was undertaken to determine private practice patients' knowledge about URTI, their attitudes, wishes and preferences at these consultations. A self-administered questionnaire in Chinese was distributed to consecutive adult patients and guardians of child patients attending twenty-two physicians' surgeries when they were diagnosed as having URTI. The results are reported in this article. |
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