What do Korean people think of family doctor registration program?

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Family doctor registration program was proposed several years ago and is still in discussion. The success of this program depends on attitude and acceptability of people. This study was done to describe the attitudes of the people to the family doctor registration program. METHODS: We interviewed 657 adults who lived in Seoul, Bundang, llsan and Pyungchon with a preformed questionnaire. The questionnaire was pretested by five family doctors and trainee. RESULTS: About half of the respondents were favorable for family doctor registration program. The most importantly considered benefits of the program were continuity of care, telephone consultation and management of chronic disease. The most seriously considered drawbacks of the program were only single doctor available cost, and restriction of medical services. Over half of the respondents preferred internists as their treating doctor and family physician, pediatrician followed. About half of the respondents opposed on the fact that the family doctor was restricted to clinic-based practice. Half of the respondents intended to Participate in the program and the rate of intention to participate in the family doctor registration program was related to their household income and favorable attitude to wards the program and marginally related to the number in a household, haring a regular doctor, their interest in health. The demographie variables did not influence intention to participate in the program. CONCLUSIONS: Half of the respondents agreed to participate in the family doctor registration program, but ethers were negative to the principles of the program and cost sharing.