Is Primary Care of Family Medicine better in Quality than that of Other Specialties?.
- Author:
Kuk Hyun BAEK
1
;
Eal Whan PARK
;
Nam Eui HONG
;
Jun Woo JO
;
Eun Young CHOI
;
Yoo Seock JUNG
Author Information
1. Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, Korea. ewpark@dku.edu
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
primary care;
quality assessment;
family medicine;
family doctor
- MeSH:
Chungcheongnam-do;
Surveys and Questionnaires;
Humans;
Mass Screening;
Physicians, Family;
Primary Health Care*;
Seoul;
Social Responsibility;
Specialization
- From:Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine
2005;26(7):404-411
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to assess the quality of primary care by patient-completed questionnaire, and to investigate whether the results of the assessment were different among the specialties of doctors (especially family medicine) and according to the existence of a family doctor. METHODS: The questionnaire, which covers 7 components of primary care (accessibility, continuity, accountability, comprehensiveness, integration, sustained partnership with patients, whole person orientation), was administered to the applicants of health screening center of a university hospital, and factory workers in Cheonan, and residents living in Seoul. Statistic analysis was performed through the collected samples. RESULTS: Total of 574 subjects were analyzed. The mean score (%) of each component of the total sample was as follows; accessibility 45.8, continuity 47.8, comprehensiveness 22.5, accountability 55.5, integration 41.8, sustained partnership with patients 48.9, and whole person orientation 31.8. The mean score (%) of all components were 42.0. Doctors were classified into internists, general surgeons, family physicians, general physicians, and others. Family physicians had the best score in accessibility (P=0.01). The mean score of all components of family physicians was better than that of internists and the other specialties (P<0.05). The respondents who had a family doctor was 129 (22.5%). The mean score of each component was higher than those without a family doctor (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Family physicians are providing high quality primary care compared to internists and other specialists. Patients who have a family doctor are provided with higher quality primary care than those who do not. Especially, comprehensiveness and whole person orientation need to be improved.
