Dataset Information

Reasons for attending a general emergency outpatient clinic versus a regular general practitioner - a survey among immigrant and native walk-in patients in Oslo, Norway.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To explore reasons for attending a general emergency outpatient clinic versus a regular general practitioner (RGP).

Design

Cross-sectional study using a multilingual anonymous questionnaire.

Setting

Native and immigrant walk-in patients attending a general emergency outpatient clinic in Oslo (Monday-Friday, 08:00-23:00) during 2 weeks in September 2009.

Subjects

We included 1022 walk-in patients: 565 native Norwegians (55%) and 457 immigrants (45%).

Main outcome measures

Patients' reasons for attending an emergency outpatient clinic versus their RGP.

Results

Among patients reporting an RGP affiliation, 49% tried to contact their RGP before this emergency encounter: 44% of native Norwegian and 58% of immigrant respondents. Immigrants from Africa [odds ratio (OR)?=?2.55 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.46-4.46)] and Asia [OR?=?2.32 (95% CI: 1.42-3.78)] were more likely to contact their RGP before attending the general emergency outpatient clinic compared with native Norwegians. The most frequent reason for attending the emergency clinic was difficulty making an immediate appointment with their RGP. A frequent reason for not contacting an RGP was lack of access: 21% of the native Norwegians versus 4% of the immigrants claimed their RGP was in another district/municipality, and 31% of the immigrants reported a lack of affiliation with the RGP scheme.

Conclusions and implications

Access to primary care provided by an RGP affects patients' use of emergency health care services. To facilitate continuity of health care, policymakers should emphasize initiatives to improve access to primary health care services. KEY POINTS Access to immediate primary health care provided by a regular general practitioner (RGP) can reduce patients' use of emergency health care services. The main reason for attending a general emergency outpatient clinic was difficulty obtaining an immediate appointment with an RGP. A frequent reason for native Norwegians attending a general emergency outpatient clinic during the daytime is having an RGP outside Oslo. Lack of affiliation with the RGP scheme is a frequent reason for attending a general emergency outpatient clinic among immigrants.

SUBMITTER: Ruud SE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5361418 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Reasons for attending a general emergency outpatient clinic versus a regular general practitioner - a survey among immigrant and native walk-in patients in Oslo, Norway.

Ruud Sven Eirik SE Hjortdahl Per P Natvig Bård B

Scandinavian journal of primary health care 20170228 1

<h4>Objective</h4>To explore reasons for attending a general emergency outpatient clinic versus a regular general practitioner (RGP).<h4>Design</h4>Cross-sectional study using a multilingual anonymous questionnaire.<h4>Setting</h4>Native and immigrant walk-in patients attending a general emergency outpatient clinic in Oslo (Monday-Friday, 08:00-23:00) during 2 weeks in September 2009.<h4>Subjects</h4>We included 1022 walk-in patients: 565 native Norwegians (55%) and 457 immigrants (45%).<h4>Main ...[more]

PMID: 28277057

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Project description:OBJECTIVES:To explore patients' use and experiences with four digital health services implemented in Norway to enable electronic communication between patients and their general practitioner (GP): (1) electronic booking of appointments; (2) electronic prescription renewal; (3) electronic contact with the GP's office for non-clinical inquiries; and (4) e-consultation for clinical inquiries. DESIGN:An online survey consisting of quantitative data supplemented by qualitative information was conducted to explore: (1) characteristics of the users; (2) use; (3) experiences, perceived benefits and satisfaction; and (4) time spent using the digital health services. SETTING:Primary care. PARTICIPANTS:2043 users of the digital health services answering the survey. RESULTS:There was a higher proportion of women, younger adults and digitally active citizens with high education. Electronic booking of appointments was the most used service (66.4%), followed by electronic prescription renewal (54.3%). Most users (80%) could more easily and efficiently book an appointment electronically than by phone. Over 90% of the respondents thought that it was easier to renew a prescription electronically, 76% obtained a better overview of their medications and 46% reported higher compliance. For non-clinical inquiries, most respondents (60%) thought that it was easier to write electronic messages than communicate by phone. For clinical enquiries, many patients agreed that e-consultation could lead to a better followup (72%) and improved quality of treatment (58%). Users were highly satisfied with the services and recommended their use to others. Time saving was the most evident benefit for patients. This was confirmed by the differences in time spent using the digital health services compared with conventional approaches, all found to be statistically significant. CONCLUSION:Citizens using e-consultation and other digital health services with their GP in Norway are satisfied and consider them as useful and efficient alternatives to conventional approaches.

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Dataset Information

Reasons for attending a general emergency outpatient clinic versus a regular general practitioner - a survey among immigrant and native walk-in patients in Oslo, Norway.

Objective

Design

Setting

Subjects

Main outcome measures

Results

Conclusions and implications

Publications

Reasons for attending a general emergency outpatient clinic versus a regular general practitioner - a survey among immigrant and native walk-in patients in Oslo, Norway.

Similar Datasets

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