Evaluation, determinants and policy implications of the general practice attributes / 中国卫生政策研究

ABSTRACT

Objective:The general practice attributes constitute a basis for the high primary care performance. In this paper, the general practice attributes are measured, their influencing factors are analyzed, the causes of exist-ing problems are explored, and suggestions are straight forwarded to strengthen the general practice function. Meth-odsIn this study, a PCAT-AE modified Chinese edition was adopted. The research was conducted into 8 community health centers and the general outpatient clinic of the University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen Hospital. They were eligi-ble adult patients who could communicate properly and had visited the same general practitioners at least three times. One-to-one interviews were conducted and a total of 1 712 patients participated in the survey, a number of which 1 645 effective samples were considered for analysis. Results: The total general practice attributes score was 49. 0. The first-contact score of 69 . 8 , continuity score being 63 . 1 and the cultural competence score of 51 . 2 were relatively high. The scores for the access (40. 8) and community orientation (31. 0) were relatively low. The general practice attribute scores were influenced by the social demographic and health characteristics, and the health care service uti-lization. Also, the general practice core attributes were positively related to the patient satisfaction (OR>1). Con-clusionComparing to the numbers in the developed countries, the general practice attribute scores were still low in China. Therefore, to strengthen the general practice function, works could be done at the individual, organization and system levels.