Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book considers the place of stories about primary care and offers a narrative window on what actually happens in general practice and in general practitioners’ encounters with their patients. It presents a trend in the literature from ‘bedside to biomedical’, from a personal model of illness to a hospital and laboratory model. The book suggests that this has parallels in the study of the doctor-patient encounter, from a longer-term relational context to a more specific analysis of behaviours, skills and tasks in the interaction. It discusses tensions between the ideals of doctors in primary care and the practical application of these ideals in everyday practice. The book provides insights into the taken-for-granted, everyday world and work of medicine and the general practitioner, both the public ‘front region’ and the more private ‘back region’.