. 9999; 0: 0-0

Primary care patients who prefer emergency department instead of family physician; How do they use their family physician?

Hatice Tuba Akbayram
Gaziantep University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine

Aim: It is a worldwide problem that non-urgent (NU) patients use emergency department (ED) instead of primary care providers. The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of NU patients and to compare the use of EDs and family physicians (FPs).
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the ED of a tertiary hospital. A questionnaire was administered to NU (level-5) patients (≥18 years old) defined using the 5-level triage system.
Results: Upper respiratory tract infections symptoms (19.6%) and gastrointestinal system problems (18.6%) were the most common complaints. Family physician (FP) contact was made prior to the ED visit by 13.3% of patients. Most of them (79.6%) stated that they were satisfied with their FP, 6.1% stated that they never went to the FP. For health problems, 39.5% reported that they preferred the FP and 29.3% preferred the ED. It was indicated that visiting rate of three times or more per year was 30.1% for ED and was 42.9% for FPs. The frequency of ED visits of those who were not satisfied with their FP compared to other participants was significantly higher (p=0.025). A significant relationship was found between the frequency of ED visits and the frequency of FP visits.
Conclusion: It was found that less than half of the patients preferred FPs when they had health problems. Those who visits the ED frequently also visits FPs frequently. Dissatisfaction with the FP is associated with the frequency of visit rate of the ED.

Keywords: Emergency department, non-urgent use, family physician, primary care


Hatice Tuba Akbayram. Primary care patients who prefer emergency department instead of family physician; How do they use their family physician?. . 9999; 0: 0-0

Corresponding Author: Hatice Tuba Akbayram, Türkiye


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