Table 2 Manifestation of values with high relevance and associated factors from the perspective of employed general practitioners

job satisfaction

Work satisfaction is enforced by abandoning bureaucratic work through task distribution in the practice, practicing different specializations and subjects (practicing the “hobbyhorse”). Family obligations are prioritized to actions that cause work satisfaction.

professional distance to patients

Mainly not realized because of intrinsic factors and factors learned in the hospital, like high sense of responsibility and availability during and outside working hours. Medical exchange with employing physicians helps with the distance.

Collaboration and collegial exchange

Exchange with employing physicians is broader than with other employed GPs, e.g. exchanging medical knowledge independent of current patients. More exchange in teams is needed instead of bilateral communication.

comprehensive care

Manifestation varies. Some say, they provide “everything“, e.g. diagnostics, prevention, and socio-legal communication. However, certain types of treatment, e.g. prevention against COVID-19, are only partially provided. The reasons for this are the preferences of the employed GPs, the lack of training, the time constraints of appointments for chronic patients and the lack of compatibility between their family and acute patients due to the difficulty of scheduling. In some cases, the range of services offered in the practice is limited by practice guidelines and time schedules, e.g. services not covered by the statutory health insurance and psychological problems.

availability of employed GPs to their patients versus private life

Compromises are made in the realization of value orientation in the tension between availability and family responsibilities: For example, inconvenient home visits are made but documentation is postponed. Patient needs are relevant: In most cases, work is not finished until the care of all patients is covered.

access: sufficient consultation time

Some employed GPs let patients talk and take time for phone calls and research. They conduct psychological and psychosomatic discussions with patients, because the profession’s self-image as a conversation-intensive discipline - even if not of sufficient length. Consultations in uncomplicated acute cases are kept short. Time conflicts arise during open consultations, when appointments and acute consultations overlap and during home visits. Employed GPs can partly influence individual appointments but can only change the planned appointment rhythm to a limited extent. Appointment scheduling by medical assistants is perceived as only partially accurate due to a lack of insight into the duration of treatment events. Deviations from the schedule are mostly accepted by the employed GPs if the request is perceived as important and cannot be postponed.