Badriya Al-Abadi1, Jokha Al-Abadi2, Wafa Al-Fannah1, Lakshmanan Jeyaseelan3, Abdullah Al-Maniri4, Abdulaziz Al-Mahrezi5. 1. Directorate of Primary Health Care, Ministry of Health, Muscat, Oman. 2. Department of Outpatient Clinics, Armed Forces Hospital, Salalah, Oman. 3. Department of Biostatistics, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India. 4. Department of Research, Oman Medical Specialty Board, Muscat, Oman. 5. Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Frequent attenders (FAs) in general practice receive significant attention in primary care research due to the financial costs associated with the higher utilization of health care services. The main objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of FAs in Oman by studying the overall rates of adult patient visits to primary health care centers (PHCs) and identify the characteristics of this group of patients. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective longitudinal study including all adults aged 18 years and above who visited general practitioner clinics at four selected PHCs in the A'Dakhiliyah governorate of Oman. Sociodemographic data and number of visits were extracted from the electronic medical records system. RESULTS: A total number of 12 902 adult patients contributed to 42 425 patient visits, with the number of visits made by individual patients ranging from 1 to 62. FAs constituted 2.4% (n = 313) of the total subjects and made 5449 (12.8%) visits. The mean rate of visits per patient per year was 3.2, while the median was two visits. The overall rate of visits per day was more than two-times higher in females (79.6 per day) compared to males (36.6 per day) and was about five-times higher in female FA (12.3 vs. 2.6). CONCLUSIONS: FAs represent a small proportion of patients attending PHCs in Oman. The proportion of females was higher among FAs and they also contributed to a higher number of visits to PHCs.
OBJECTIVES: Frequent attenders (FAs) in general practice receive significant attention in primary care research due to the financial costs associated with the higher utilization of health care services. The main objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of FAs in Oman by studying the overall rates of adult patient visits to primary health care centers (PHCs) and identify the characteristics of this group of patients. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective longitudinal study including all adults aged 18 years and above who visited general practitioner clinics at four selected PHCs in the A'Dakhiliyah governorate of Oman. Sociodemographic data and number of visits were extracted from the electronic medical records system. RESULTS: A total number of 12 902 adult patients contributed to 42 425 patient visits, with the number of visits made by individual patients ranging from 1 to 62. FAs constituted 2.4% (n = 313) of the total subjects and made 5449 (12.8%) visits. The mean rate of visits per patient per year was 3.2, while the median was two visits. The overall rate of visits per day was more than two-times higher in females (79.6 per day) compared to males (36.6 per day) and was about five-times higher in female FA (12.3 vs. 2.6). CONCLUSIONS: FAs represent a small proportion of patients attending PHCs in Oman. The proportion of females was higher among FAs and they also contributed to a higher number of visits to PHCs.
Entities:
Keywords:
General Practice; Health Services; Oman; Prevalence; Primary Health Care
Authors: Frans T M Smits; Jacob J Mohrs; Ellen E Beem; Patrick J E Bindels; Henk C P M van Weert Journal: BMC Fam Pract Date: 2008-04-15 Impact factor: 2.497