ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To assess in two General Medicine clinics the use of the formula "Was there anything else?" in connection with patients' additional requests and the question's possible association with other variables. DESIGN: Quasi-experimental. SETTING: Urban Health Centre. PATIENTS: Patients from two lists attending over a two-month period, with the exclusion of scheduled patients without appointments. MEASUREMENTS AND INTERVENTIONS: For one of the months patients were asked: "Was there anything else?" (intervention group) and for the other month, they were not (control group). On each visit variables were recorded: list, doctor (tutor/intern), age, gender, reason for consultation (pathology/burocratic), whether accompanied, waiting time and additional requests (new problems raised at the end of the visit). A bivariant analysis of each of the variables with the variable 'intervention' was made and, after a prior transformation of the variable 'additional requests' into two, was adjusted to a multiple logistic regression model in order to control the confusion. RESULTS: 2,657 attendances were analysed. The variables which were significant for the prediction of additional requests were: intervention, list, age, gender and reason for consultation. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention of the doctor may generate additional requests, although whether this means that the consultation is better organised remains to be assessed.
Subject(s)
Medical History Taking , Physician-Patient Relations , Primary Health Care , Adult , Aged , Female , Hospitals, General , Humans , Male , Medical History Taking/methods , Middle Aged , Spain , Urban HealthABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To find the clinical condition and motives for consultation of HIV + patients seen in our Health Centre. DESIGN: This was an observational and retrospective study. SITE. The study was carried out in the Primary Care context, in the Natahoyo Health Centre (Gijón). PATIENTS AND OTHERS PARTICIPANTS: The clinical histories of 26 HIV + patients registered at the Health Centre were studied. These supposed a total of 387 consultations from the day they were diagnosed as seropositive to the 31 August, 1991, or until their death. MAIN MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: The 387 consultations recorded broke down into a average of 14.8 consultations per patient (SD 12.7). 43% due to a request for detoxification. Only 5.5% of patients were referred to the second level. In line with the classifications of the W.H.O., 14 patients (56%) would be in stage I; 3 (12%) in stage II; 3 (12%) in stage III; and 5 (20%) in stage IV. CONCLUSIONS: HIV + patients often attend our Health Centre, but mainly for bureaucratic reasons. Consultations due to illness tend to be for minor pathologies, which are almost always treated successfully in the Centre itself. The WHO's classifications were found to be useful for assessing the stage of each HIV + patient at the Primary Care level.
