ABSTRACT
The second Dutch National Survey of General Practice (DNSGP-2) has its roots in the Netherlands Information Network of General Practice, which, in turn, has its roots in the first DNSGP (DNSGP-1). The first DNSGP was inspired by the National Morbidity Surveys in England and Wales. For DNSGP-1 data on referrals, contact diagnoses, episodes of illness and socio-economic characteristics were collected. A population census was conducted among the total practice populations, extensive health interview surveys were carried out among a sample of patients, general practitioner (GP) questionnaires were sent and even video observations were made. Already in the early 1990s, the Dutch Ministry of Health felt a need to monitor referrals from general practice to specialist medical care. By that time, personal computers had entered general practice and many GPs had started recording patient data in their computers. Software-associated obstacles make it difficult to obtain data that are representative. There are some different software systems for 4600 general practices in the Netherlands.
