The role of general practitioner and seniors‘ satisfaction with care
Authors:
A. Pokorná; S. Dvořáková
Authors‘ workplace:
Vedoucí: doc. PhDr. Miroslava Kyasová, Ph. D.
; Lékařská fakulta
; Katedra ošetřovatelství
; Masarykova univerzita, Brno
Published in:
Prakt. Lék. 2015; 95(5): 199-204
Category:
Of different specialties
Overview
Subject:
Demographic aging is related to the increase in the number of very elderly patients in general practitioners’ surgeries. The assumption is therefore logical linking of activities within geriatrics with practical medicine. General Practitioner is one who knows the patient's long-term and should be able to identify sudden changes in the health status of seniors. Problematic may be whether and to what extent the seniors use the physician´s care, which may be influenced by one’s satisfaction with care.
Methods:
The views of the senior respondents (n = 136) on the role of the general practitioner (GP) and satisfaction with the care were evaluated on the basis of a questionnaire survey conducted in GP’s offices in Brno (n = 76) and the surrounding area (n = 60). The questionnaire was created with using some items from the internationally standardized and validated 23 items scale for assessment of patient satisfaction with care of general practitioners (EUROPEP). Statistical data processing was performed using Pearson’s chi-square test at the significance level α = 0.05.
Results:
The results showed a statistically significant relationship between the presence of chronic disease and reason for visiting your GP (P = 0.0340). Other monitored factors (gender, age, place of residence) were not statistically significantly associated with reasons to visit a doctor. When assessing satisfaction with care practitioner there were no statistically significant differences by age, sex and place of residence. The majority of respondents declared satisfaction with care of practitioner. An interesting finding is that the majority of seniors (56.6%) did not remember if they has changed the practitioner during the last ten years, despite of this the 51.5% reported that a doctor was chosen at its sole discretion and without the recommendation of another person.
Conclusion:
The quality of primary care for elderly and especially the role of GP’s are very important in relation to the actual demographic situation. The interviewed seniors reported satisfaction with the care of practitioner. They visit GP in order to prescription of medications most often. As the most important they evaluated the communication skills of doctors, willingness, trustworthiness and dependability.
Keywords:
practitioner – elderly patient – role – satisfaction – health care
Sources
1. Andén A, Anderson SO, Rudebeck CE. Concepts underlying outcome measures studies of consultations in general practice. Scand J Prim Care 2006; 24: 218–223.
2. Berchtold P, Kunzi B, Busato A. Differences of the quality of care experience: the perception of patients with either network or conventional health plans. Fam Pract 2011; 28: 406–413.
3. Bower P. Measuring patients’ asessments of primary care quality: the use of self-report questionnaires. Expert Rev Pharmacoecon Outcomes Res 2003; 3: 551–560.
4. Busato A, Künzi B. Differences in the quality of interpersonal care in complementary and conventional medicine. BMC Complement Altern Med 2010; 10: 63. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-10-63.
5. Camacho F, Anderson R, Safrit A, Jones AS, Hoffmann P. The relationship between patient’s perceived waiting time and office-based practice satisfaction. NC Med J 2006; 67: 409–413.
6. Campbell JL, Ramsay J, Green J. Age, gender, socioeconomic, and ethnic differences in patients’ assessments of primary health care. Qual Health Care 2001; 10(2): 90–95.
7. Coulter A. What do patients and the public want from primary care? BMJ 2005; 331: 1199–1201.
8. Grindrod, K. A. Pharmacists’ perspectives on providing chronic disease management services in the community – Part 1: Current practice environment. CPJ/RPC 2009; 142(5): 234–239.
9. Heje HN, Vedsted P, Sokolowski I, Olesen F. Patient characteristics associated with differences in patients’ evaluation of their general practitioner. BMC Health Serv Res 2008; 8: 178.
10. Isaacowitz DM, Vaillant GE, Seligman ME. Strengths and satisfaction across the adult lifespan. Int J Aging Hum Dev 2003; 57: 181–201.
11. Kalvach Z, Zadák Z, Jirák R, a kol. Geriatrie a gerontologie. Praha: Grada Publishing 2004.
12. Kelley E, Hurst J. Health Care Quality Indicators Project Conceptual Framework Paper. 2006. OECD Health Working Papers [online]. [cit. 28-07-2014]. Dostupné z: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/1/34/36262514.pdf.
13. Kersnik J. Švab I. Vegnuti M. Frequent attenders in general practice: quality of life, patient satisfaction, use of medical services and GP characteristics. Scand J Prim Health Care 2001; 19: 174–177.
14. Košta O. Management úspěšné ordinace praktického lékaře. Praha: Grada Publishing 2013.
15. Mantyselka P, Halonen P, Vehvilainen A, et al. Access to and continuity of primary medical care of different providers as perceived by the Finnish population. Scand J Prim Health Care 2007; 25: 27–32.
16. Mead N, Bower P, Roland M. The General Practice Assessment Questionnaire (GPAQ) – Development and Psychometric Characteristics. BMC Family Practice 2008; 9(13): 11.
17. Papp R, Borbas I, Dobos E, et al. Perceptions of quality in primary health care: perspectives of patients and professionals based on focus group discussions. BMC Family Practice 2014; 15: 128. doi: 10.1186/1471-2296-15-128.
18. Seifert B, Beneš V, a kol. Všeobecné praktické lékařství. Praha: Galén 2005.
19. Seifert B, Býma S, Struk P. Národní akreditační standardy pro praktické lékařství. [online] [cit. 28-07-2014]. Dostupné z: http://www.mzcr.cz/kvalitaabezpeci/dokumenty/hodnoceni-kvality-ordinaci-praktickych-lekaru-vcetne-bezpeci-pacientu_7383_2842_29.html
20. Sitzia J, Wood N. Patient satisfaction: a review of issues and concepts. Soc Sci Med 1997; 45: 1829–1843.
21. Sixma, H. J., Spreeuwenberg, P. M., Van der Pasch, M. A. Patient satisfaction with the general practitioner: a two-level analysis. Med Care 1998; 36(2): 212–229.
22. Thompson AG, Sunol R. Expectations as determinants of patient satisfaction: concepts, theory and evidence. Int J Qual Health Care 1995; 7: 127–141.
23. Topinková E. Vzdělávání praktických lékařů v geriatrii [online]. Geriatrická klinika 1. LF UK a VFN, 2005–2007 [cit. 28-07-2014]. Dostupné z: http://geri.lf1.cuni.cz/projektvzdelavani-praktickych-lekaru.
24. Vachon B, Désorcy B, Camirand M, et al. Engaging primary care practitioners in quality improvement: making explicit the program theory of an interprofessional education intervention. BMC Health Serv Res 2013; 13: 106.
25. Weber P. Minimum z klinické gerontologie pro lékaře a sestru v ambulanci. Brno: IDV PZ, 2000.
26. Wensing M, Vedsted P, Kersnik J, et al. Patient satisfaction with availability of general practice: an international comparison. Int J Qual Health Care 2002; 14(2): 111–118.
27. Wensing M, Baker R, Vedsted P, et al. EUROPEP 2006. Revised Europep instrument and user manual. [online]. Centre of Quality of Care Research, 2006 [cit. 28-07-2014]. Dostupné z: http://www.topaseurope.eu/files/Europep%202006rapport_0.pdf.
Labels
General practitioner for children and adolescents General practitioner for adultsArticle was published in
General Practitioner
2015 Issue 5
Most read in this issue
- White oral lesions – differential diagnosis
- Sexology profile of patients after spinal cord injury
- Sleep problems of the elderly depending on the environment
- The use of assessment tools for assessment fear of pain in children