Provider perspectives on general practice in Henan, China: a mixed-methods study

Zhu, Jiming; Ariana, Proochista

While there is substantial literature on China's barefoot doctors, there is a research gap on China's new GP system. Most articles, focusing on China's recent PHC initiative, tend to landscape the progress or provide a general account of China's newly-introduced GPs by using aggregated national official data -data that unfortunately are often misleading. There is a lack of rigorous, original investigations. Due to China's size, complexity and history, its official GPs may be considerably different, in terms of training, from their counterparts in high-income countries (Panel 1). Moreover, a fundamental factor affecting the viability of general practice in China is how General Practice is understood by prospective GPs. Our study focusses on how the three medical groups, together called the Policy Implementation Targets (PITs; Panel 1), understand the new GP system. If the PITs cannot agree on what being a GP entails, this compromises the policy foundation of China's GP aspirations. Our findings help inform priorities for establishing a viable GP system in China and may provide guidance for other countries embarking on a similar trajectory.