Investigation of family physicians′ needs for tertiary hospitals support in the hierarchical medical system / 中华医院管理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To learn the needs of family physicians for tertiary hospital support in the hierarchical medical system. Methods In July 2017 cluster sampling was made to 135 family physicians of Changning district of Shanghai for a " Family physicians needs questionnaire" . It covered such aspects as their demographic characteristics and their needs. The data so acquired were subject to descriptive and logical analysis. Results 99.3% of them need preferential appointment of specialists at tertiary hospitals;93.3% of them need preferential appointment of examinations; 82.2% of them need preferential outpatient visits; while 83.7% of them need preferential hospitalization and surgery scheduling. In terms of the approaches for preferential appointment of specialists, 84.4% of them prefer specialist appointment at short notice, and 73.3% of them need direct online appointment for large-scale device examinations at tertiary hospitals. In terms of mentoring scenarios, 62.2% of them prefer mentoring during outpatient rounds at fixed schedules of specialists in their community. Conclusions Tertiary hospitals are recommended to establish green pathways for referrals and priority measures in order to improve capabilities of family physicians and the shared platform in the hierarchical medical network. They are also expected to guide family physicians in their research paper writing, thus fully supporting the hierarchical medical system.