Skip Navigation



Family Practice Advance Access published online on November 4, 2004
Family Practice, doi:10.1093/fampra/cmh616
© 2004 by Oxford University Press
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
21/6/677    most recent
cmh616v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Glynn, L. G.
Right arrow Articles by Murphy, A. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Glynn, L. G.
Right arrow Articles by Murphy, A. W.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Received May 20, 2004
Accepted July 5, 2004

Article

The effect of health status on patients' satisfaction with out-of-hours care provided by a family doctor co-operative

L. G. Glynn 1*, M. Byrne 1, J. Newell 2, and A. W. Murphy 1

1 Department of General Practice, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
2 Department of Mathematics, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
L. G. Glynn, E-mail: lgglynn{at}eircom.net


  Abstract

Background. Systems for providing primary care outside normal hours have changed significantly in Europe over the last 20 years. The impetus for this change has come almost entirely from the medical profession, and it is important to consider the patients' perspective. Although patient's satisfaction with out-of-hours care has been studied extensively, the effect of patient's health status on satisfaction level has not been examined previously.

Objectives. The primary objective of this study was to investigate whether health status has an influence on patient satisfaction with out-of-hours care provided by a family doctor co-operative. The secondary objective of this study was to investigate the impact of age, gender, socio-economic status and call outcome on patients' satisfaction with out-of-hours care.

Methods. All patients contacting the service over a designated 24 day period were forwarded a postal questionnaire. Health status was recorded using the Short Form-12 (SF-12) health survey. Patients' satisfaction was measured by using a version of the McKinley questionnaire.

Results. The response rate was 55% (531 out of 966). Overall satisfaction levels were high, with 88% of patients rating the service as either excellent or good. Logistic regression, modelling for the simultaneous effects of age, gender, socio-economic status, call outcome and health status on overall satisfaction, found that patients with lower physical and mental health status scores were significantly less likely to be satisfied with their out-of-hours care [odds ratio (OR) 1.04, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01-1.07, P = 0.017; and 1.03, 95% CI 1.00-1.06, P = 0.046, respectively]. Patients with higher socio-economic status were also significantly less likely to be satisfied (OR 0.25, 95% CI 0.11-0.55, P = 0.001). Patient's age and gender, and call outcome did not significantly affect overall satisfaction levels.

Conclusion. Family doctor co-operatives have significantly altered the way out-of-hours care is delivered. Patients with lower health status are significantly less likely to be satisfied with this new form of out-of-hours care. This finding has important implications for the future planning of out-of-hours primary care services.

Keywords: Health status; out-of-hours medical care; patient satisfaction.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Fam PractHome page
M. Geitona, J. Kyriopoulos, D. Zavras, T. Theodoratou, and E. C Alexopoulos
Medication use and patient satisfaction: a population-based survey
Fam. Pract., October 1, 2008; 25(5): 362 - 369.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 BMJHome page
H. Herbert
Should general practitioners resume 24 hour responsibility for their patients? No
BMJ, October 6, 2007; 335(7622): 697 - 697.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 American Journal of Medical QualityHome page
Y. Zhang, J. Rohrer, T. Borders, and T. Farrell
Patient Satisfaction, Self-Rated Health Status, and Health Confidence: An Assessment of the Utility of Single-Item Questions
American Journal of Medical Quality, January 1, 2007; 22(1): 42 - 49.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Fam PractHome page
D. Dunt, S. E Day, M. Kelaher, and M. Montalto
The impact of standalone call centres and GP cooperatives on access to after hours GP care: a before and after study adjusted for secular trend
Fam. Pract., August 1, 2006; 23(4): 453 - 460.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Fam PractHome page
C Salisbury, A Burgess, V Lattimer, D Heaney, J Walker, J Turnbull, and H Smith
Developing a standard short questionnaire for the assessment of patient satisfaction with out-of-hours primary care
Fam. Pract., October 1, 2005; 22(5): 560 - 569.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.