How GPs can Recognize Persistent Frequent Attenders at Finnish Primary Health Care Using Electronic Patient Records
Introduction: The proportion of patients who are frequent attenders (FAs) varies from few percent to almost 30% of all patients. A small group of patients continued to visit GPs year after year. In previous studies, it has been reported that over 15% of all 1-year FAs were persistent frequent attend...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2021-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Primary Care & Community Health |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/21501327211024417 |
| _version_ | 1819002933638856704 |
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| author | Anne Santalahti Sinikka Luutonen Tero Vahlberg Hans Moen Sanna Salanterä Päivi Rautava |
| author_facet | Anne Santalahti Sinikka Luutonen Tero Vahlberg Hans Moen Sanna Salanterä Päivi Rautava |
| author_sort | Anne Santalahti |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction: The proportion of patients who are frequent attenders (FAs) varies from few percent to almost 30% of all patients. A small group of patients continued to visit GPs year after year. In previous studies, it has been reported that over 15% of all 1-year FAs were persistent frequent attenders (pFAs). Objectives: This study aimed to identify typical features of pFAs from the textual content in their medical entries, which could help GPs to recognize pFAs easily and facilitated treatment.Methods: A retrospective register study was done, using 10 years of electronic patient records. The data were collected from Finnish primary health care centers and used to analyze chronic symptoms and diagnoses of pFAs and to calculate the inverse document frequency weight (IDF) of words used in the patient records. IDF was used to determine which words, if any, are typical for pFAs. The study group consisted of the 5-year pFAs and control group of 1-year FAs. The main background variables were age, gender, occupation, smoking habits, use of alcohol, and BMI. Results: Out of 4392 frequent attenders, 6.6% were pFAs for 3 years and 1.1% were pFAs for 5 years. Of the pFAs, 65% were female and 35% were male. The study group had significantly more depressive episodes ( P = .004), heart failure ( P = .019), asthma ( P = .032), COPD ( P = .036), epilepsy ( P = .035), and lumbago ( P = .046) compared to the control group. GPs described their 5-year pFAs by words related to lung and breathing issues, but there was no statistical difference to the 1-year FAs’ descriptions. Conclusion: A typical pFA seems to be a woman, aged about 55 years with depressive episodes, asthma or COPD, and lower back pain. Physicians describe pFAs with ordinary words in patient records. It was not possible to differentiate pFAs from 1-year FAs in this way. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T23:12:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fda6c0bf6195429cb5342836e6dac8db |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2150-1327 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T23:12:59Z |
| publishDate | 2021-06-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Primary Care & Community Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-fda6c0bf6195429cb5342836e6dac8db2022-12-21T19:23:42ZengSAGE PublishingJournal of Primary Care & Community Health2150-13272021-06-011210.1177/21501327211024417How GPs can Recognize Persistent Frequent Attenders at Finnish Primary Health Care Using Electronic Patient RecordsAnne Santalahti0Sinikka Luutonen1Tero Vahlberg2Hans Moen3Sanna Salanterä4Päivi Rautava5University of Turku, Turku, FinlandUniversity of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Varsinais-Suomi, FinlandUniversity of Turku, Turku, FinlandUniversity of Turku, Turku, FinlandUniversity of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Varsinais-Suomi, FinlandUniversity of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Varsinais-Suomi, FinlandIntroduction: The proportion of patients who are frequent attenders (FAs) varies from few percent to almost 30% of all patients. A small group of patients continued to visit GPs year after year. In previous studies, it has been reported that over 15% of all 1-year FAs were persistent frequent attenders (pFAs). Objectives: This study aimed to identify typical features of pFAs from the textual content in their medical entries, which could help GPs to recognize pFAs easily and facilitated treatment.Methods: A retrospective register study was done, using 10 years of electronic patient records. The data were collected from Finnish primary health care centers and used to analyze chronic symptoms and diagnoses of pFAs and to calculate the inverse document frequency weight (IDF) of words used in the patient records. IDF was used to determine which words, if any, are typical for pFAs. The study group consisted of the 5-year pFAs and control group of 1-year FAs. The main background variables were age, gender, occupation, smoking habits, use of alcohol, and BMI. Results: Out of 4392 frequent attenders, 6.6% were pFAs for 3 years and 1.1% were pFAs for 5 years. Of the pFAs, 65% were female and 35% were male. The study group had significantly more depressive episodes ( P = .004), heart failure ( P = .019), asthma ( P = .032), COPD ( P = .036), epilepsy ( P = .035), and lumbago ( P = .046) compared to the control group. GPs described their 5-year pFAs by words related to lung and breathing issues, but there was no statistical difference to the 1-year FAs’ descriptions. Conclusion: A typical pFA seems to be a woman, aged about 55 years with depressive episodes, asthma or COPD, and lower back pain. Physicians describe pFAs with ordinary words in patient records. It was not possible to differentiate pFAs from 1-year FAs in this way.https://doi.org/10.1177/21501327211024417 |
| spellingShingle | Anne Santalahti Sinikka Luutonen Tero Vahlberg Hans Moen Sanna Salanterä Päivi Rautava How GPs can Recognize Persistent Frequent Attenders at Finnish Primary Health Care Using Electronic Patient Records Journal of Primary Care & Community Health |
| title | How GPs can Recognize Persistent Frequent Attenders at Finnish Primary Health Care Using Electronic Patient Records |
| title_full | How GPs can Recognize Persistent Frequent Attenders at Finnish Primary Health Care Using Electronic Patient Records |
| title_fullStr | How GPs can Recognize Persistent Frequent Attenders at Finnish Primary Health Care Using Electronic Patient Records |
| title_full_unstemmed | How GPs can Recognize Persistent Frequent Attenders at Finnish Primary Health Care Using Electronic Patient Records |
| title_short | How GPs can Recognize Persistent Frequent Attenders at Finnish Primary Health Care Using Electronic Patient Records |
| title_sort | how gps can recognize persistent frequent attenders at finnish primary health care using electronic patient records |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/21501327211024417 |
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