ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To describe, quantify and analyse the phenomenon of a change of doctor. DESIGN: An observational, descriptive and retrospective study. SETTING: The Torrero-Este Health Centre in the urban periphery of Zaragoza, attending a population of 20,433 people. PATIENTS: 268 people of both sexes, between 16 and 87 years old and users of the Health Centre, who requested a change of doctor between 1990 and 1995. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The study's variables were taken from the patients' clinical records; and each patient was interviewed to analyse the situation before and after the change. After excluding 50 for various reasons, there were 218 patients left. The patient profile was: women 61.7%, active population 57.8%, and under 60 years old 78%. Those who attended most often and put forward problems with their doctor as the reason for changing their doctor, nevertheless continued being the most frequent attenders after the change. There were differences (p < 0.05) in personal treatment and attendance between doctors who "donated" patients and doctors who "received" them, and also in the reason for the change and the number of consultations. CONCLUSIONS: In the context of the quality of services provided, we thought that changes in doctor expressed some kind of uneasy. This study had the double benefit of being an indicator of quality of care and of enabling the centre's health professionals to know what the flow of patients between the different clinics was, which may help to improve the model of clinical interview.
