Status quo of home care for community-dwelling elderly from the perspective of family doctor teams: a qualitative study / 中华全科医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the perspective of family doctor teams on the status quo of home care for community-dwelling elderly.Methods:The focus group interviews on the status quo of home care for community-dwelling elderly were conducted from August 19 to December 28, 2021. One urban area and 1 suburban area of Beijing was selected by purpose sampling method as target areas. Five community health service centers were selected from each area, and 5 family doctor team members were selected as interviewees in each center. The outline of interviews was as follows what kinds of home care does the family doctor team provide for the community-dwelling elderly; how does the family doctor team evaluate the existing community-based home care; what suggestions on developing community-based home care for the elderly in the future. The data of the interview were analyzed by the thematic framework.Results:Xicheng district and Miyun district were selected as the study sites in the urban and suburban areas of Beijing, and 41 family doctor team members were interviewed. Three themes and 6 sub-themes were extracted. The study showed that (1) the family doctor contracted service for the elderly was carried out smoothly in the community; (2) the current situation of home care for the elderly in the community varied, the chronic disease management for the elderly was effective, the health education in the community was popular, the implementation of free annual health check for the elderly in urban areas was more difficult than that in suburban areas, and the family doctor team provided home visits as needed and required; (3) the members of family doctor team usually undertook multiple tasks due to the insufficiency of auxiliary staff, and the incentive mechanism of the home visit was not perfect, which needed to be improved.Conclusion:From the perspective of family doctor teams, the contract service for the elderly is generally carried out smoothly in Beijing communities, but it varies in different types of home care for the elderly, and the work and incentive mechanism of family doctor team need to be improved.