Assessing the potential for improvement of primary care in 34 countries: a cross-sectional survey
Objective To investigate patients’ perceptions of improvement potential in primary care in 34 countries. Methods We did a cross-sectional survey of 69 201 patients who had just visited general practitioners at primary-care facilities. Patients rated five features of person-focused primary care – acc...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The World Health Organization
2015-03-01
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| Series: | Bulletin of the World Health Organization |
| Online Access: | http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862015000400161&lng=en&tlng=en |
| _version_ | 1827332349512122368 |
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| author | Willemijn LA Schäfer Wienke GW Boerma Anna M Murante Herman JM Sixma François G Schellevis Peter P Groenewegen |
| author_facet | Willemijn LA Schäfer Wienke GW Boerma Anna M Murante Herman JM Sixma François G Schellevis Peter P Groenewegen |
| author_sort | Willemijn LA Schäfer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective To investigate patients’ perceptions of improvement potential in primary care in 34 countries. Methods We did a cross-sectional survey of 69 201 patients who had just visited general practitioners at primary-care facilities. Patients rated five features of person-focused primary care – accessibility/availability, continuity, comprehensiveness, patient involvement and doctor–patient communication. One tenth of the patients ranked the importance of each feature on a scale of one to four, and nine tenths of patients scored their experiences of care received. We calculated the potential for improvement by multiplying the proportion of negative patient experiences with the mean importance score in each country. Scores were divided into low, medium and high improvement potential. Pair-wise correlations were made between improvement scores and three dimensions of the structure of primary care – governance, economic conditions and workforce development. Findings In 26 countries, one or more features of primary care had medium or high improvement potentials. Comprehensiveness of care had medium to high improvement potential in 23 of 34 countries. In all countries, doctor–patient communication had low improvement potential. An overall stronger structure of primary care was correlated with a lower potential for improvement of continuity and comprehensiveness of care. In countries with stronger primary care governance patients perceived less potential to improve the continuity of care. Countries with better economic conditions for primary care had less potential for improvement of all features of person-focused care. Conclusion In countries with a stronger primary care structure, patients perceived that primary care had less potential for improvement. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T16:58:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-126c42acaf5a4b959451630e4b5abfcd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0042-9686 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T16:58:40Z |
| publishDate | 2015-03-01 |
| publisher | The World Health Organization |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Bulletin of the World Health Organization |
| spelling | doaj.art-126c42acaf5a4b959451630e4b5abfcd2024-03-03T03:29:02ZengThe World Health OrganizationBulletin of the World Health Organization0042-96862015-03-0193316116810.2471/BLT.14.140368S0042-96862015000400161Assessing the potential for improvement of primary care in 34 countries: a cross-sectional surveyWillemijn LA SchäferWienke GW BoermaAnna M MuranteHerman JM SixmaFrançois G SchellevisPeter P GroenewegenObjective To investigate patients’ perceptions of improvement potential in primary care in 34 countries. Methods We did a cross-sectional survey of 69 201 patients who had just visited general practitioners at primary-care facilities. Patients rated five features of person-focused primary care – accessibility/availability, continuity, comprehensiveness, patient involvement and doctor–patient communication. One tenth of the patients ranked the importance of each feature on a scale of one to four, and nine tenths of patients scored their experiences of care received. We calculated the potential for improvement by multiplying the proportion of negative patient experiences with the mean importance score in each country. Scores were divided into low, medium and high improvement potential. Pair-wise correlations were made between improvement scores and three dimensions of the structure of primary care – governance, economic conditions and workforce development. Findings In 26 countries, one or more features of primary care had medium or high improvement potentials. Comprehensiveness of care had medium to high improvement potential in 23 of 34 countries. In all countries, doctor–patient communication had low improvement potential. An overall stronger structure of primary care was correlated with a lower potential for improvement of continuity and comprehensiveness of care. In countries with stronger primary care governance patients perceived less potential to improve the continuity of care. Countries with better economic conditions for primary care had less potential for improvement of all features of person-focused care. Conclusion In countries with a stronger primary care structure, patients perceived that primary care had less potential for improvement.http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862015000400161&lng=en&tlng=en |
| spellingShingle | Willemijn LA Schäfer Wienke GW Boerma Anna M Murante Herman JM Sixma François G Schellevis Peter P Groenewegen Assessing the potential for improvement of primary care in 34 countries: a cross-sectional survey Bulletin of the World Health Organization |
| title | Assessing the potential for improvement of primary care in 34 countries: a cross-sectional survey |
| title_full | Assessing the potential for improvement of primary care in 34 countries: a cross-sectional survey |
| title_fullStr | Assessing the potential for improvement of primary care in 34 countries: a cross-sectional survey |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing the potential for improvement of primary care in 34 countries: a cross-sectional survey |
| title_short | Assessing the potential for improvement of primary care in 34 countries: a cross-sectional survey |
| title_sort | assessing the potential for improvement of primary care in 34 countries a cross sectional survey |
| url | http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862015000400161&lng=en&tlng=en |
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