Why Do Primary Care Patients Change Their Physicians: An Overview of the Literature

Primary healthcare has an important role in a patient’s long-term health. While patients in most countries are free to change their family physician, fragmented care leads to higher healthcare costs, more preventable hospitalizations, and an increased likelihood of deviation from clinical best practice. This review aims to identify the main reasons patients change family doctors, summarize the factors influencing these decisions, and highlight areas in healthcare that can be improved to increase patient satisfaction and design better services. An electronic search of the literature was conducted in March 2023 in PubMed and Embase databases for articles in English, French, Portuguese, or Spanish published from 1980 to March 2023. A thematic synthesis approach was applied to the included studies, involving systematic analysis of their findings to identify and categorize analytical themes. Nineteen relevant studies were identified. The following themes were identified as reasons to change family physicians: doctor–patient relationship; consultation schedule and convenience; referrals and positive references; medication and treatment issues; practice management and cost; personal preferences and physician characteristics; and accessibility and distance. The identified themes can serve as valuable targets for developing interventions aimed at enhancing the quality of care provided to patients.