Frequent attenders at a primary health care center in Kuwait

To determine the frequency of general practice consultations and study personal and health factors associated with frequent attendance. Retrospective descriptive and case control study. Al-Surra Family Practice Health Center [SFPC], Kuwait. Three hundred seventy-two adults categorized as "frequent attenders" [FA] were included as cases. Three hundred sixty-eight adults categorized as "non-frequent attenders" [NFA] represented the controls. Frequency of attendance to polyclinic and associated factors. A total number of 16.068 patients made 77.970 visits to the SFPC during 2003. Out of them, 932 FA made 14,970 visits. The median number of visits per FA patient was 16, whereas it was only four for NFA. Only 45.5% of frequent attenders presented with symptoms while 17.7% attended for repeated medical prescription, and 18.3% showed up for check-up. Logistic regression analysis revealed that Kuwaitis, governmental employees, females in older age groups with chronic illness were more liable to be FAs in general. Among Kuwaitis, governmental job and chronic disease were detected as significant risk factors for being FA. Chronic diseases were the only predictors of FA among non-Kuwaitis. 5.8% of the total number of patients were responsible for 19.2% of the visits to SFPC. Chronic illness correlated strongly with a high rate of attendance. Also socio-demographic factors, especially nationality, gender, age and job type were indicators of frequent attendance in general practice

Current use, perceived need, education and attitudes of doctors toward computer use in primary health care

The objective of this study was to assess the computer literacy of primary health care [PHC] practitioners, current usage of computers and doctors' attitudes toward future computer applications in their practice in Kuwait. One hundred and two doctors from clinics in the Capital Health Area completed a structured, self-administered questionnaire. The results showed that 36% of PHC practitioners are computer users; 19% use them for educational purposes, and 13%, for research. Seven percent of PHC practitioners currently use the Internet. Computer usage is confined mostly to the home environment; very few doctors [5%] use a computer at work. PHC practitioners showed a positive attitude towards computer learning and training. The majority of doctors [93%] had intentions of learning about computers in the near future. This study suggests that while the rate of computer use is relatively low among physicians, the desire to increase usage is firm. Consequently, health authorities committed to improving the quality of health care delivery may consider financially subsidizing the acquisition of hardware by, and computer training for, PHC practitioners