IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0190036.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reasons for encounter and health problems managed by general practitioners in the rural areas of Beijing, China: A cross-sectional study

Author

Listed:
  • Yanli Liu
  • Chao Chen
  • Guanghui Jin
  • Yali Zhao
  • Lifen Chen
  • Juan Du
  • Xiaoqin Lu

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the patients’ reasons for encounter (RFE) and health problems managed by general practitioners (GPs) in the rural areas of Beijing to provide evidences for health services planning and GPs training. Methods: This study was conducted at 14 community health service centers (CHSCs) in 6 suburban districts of Beijing, using a multistage sampling method. A total of 100 GPs was selected from the study sites. A self-designed data collection form was developed on the basis of Subjective-Objective-Assessment-Plan (SOAP), including patient characteristics, RFEs, health problems, interventions, and consultation length. Each GP recorded and coded their 100 consecutive patients’ RFEs and health problems with the International Classification of Primary Care, 2nd version (ICPC-2). Descriptive statistics were employed to describe the distribution of RFE and health problems. Student t-test and analysis of variance were used to compare the differences of mean number of RFE or health problems per encounter by patient characteristics. Results: A total of 10,000 patient encounters with 13,705 RFEs and 15,460 health problems were recorded. The RFEs and health problems were mainly distributed in respiratory, circulatory, musculoskeletal, endocrine, metabolic and nutritional, and digestive systems. Cough and hypertension were the most common RFE and health problem, respectively. With increased ages, the mean number of RFEs decreased and the mean number of health problems increased. Patients with Beijing medical insurance had less RFEs and more health problems than those in other cities (p

Suggested Citation

  • Yanli Liu & Chao Chen & Guanghui Jin & Yali Zhao & Lifen Chen & Juan Du & Xiaoqin Lu, 2017. "Reasons for encounter and health problems managed by general practitioners in the rural areas of Beijing, China: A cross-sectional study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(12), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0190036
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0190036
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0190036
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0190036&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0190036?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guanghui Jin & Yali Zhao & Chao Chen & Wenji Wang & Juan Du & Xiaoqin Lu, 2015. "The Length and Content of General Practice Consultation in Two Urban Districts of Beijing: A Preliminary Observation Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(8), pages 1-10, August.
    2. Starfield, Barbara & Shi, Leiyu, 2002. "Policy relevant determinants of health: an international perspective," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 201-218, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Klaus, Püschel & à lvaro, Téllez & Joaquín, Montero & Astrid, Brunner & Blanca, Peñaloza & María Paulina, Rojas & Fernando, Poblete & Tomás, Pantoja, 2013. "Hacia un nuevo modelo de atención primaria en salud: evaluación del proyecto de salud familiar Ancora U.C," Estudios Públicos, Centro de Estudios Públicos, vol. 0(130), pages 23-52.
    2. Adolf Kwadzo Dzampe & Shingo Takahashi, 2024. "Financial incentives and health provider behaviour: Evidence from a capitation policy in Ghana," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 333-344, February.
    3. Dolton, Peter & Pathania, Vikram, 2016. "Can increased primary care access reduce demand for emergency care? Evidence from England's 7-day GP opening," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 193-208.
    4. Propper, Carol & Rigg, John A. & Burgess, Simon, 2005. "Health supplier quality and the distribution of child health," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 6252, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. van Dijk, Christel E. & Korevaar, Joke C. & Koopmans, Berber & de Jong, Judith D. & de Bakker, Dinny H., 2014. "The primary–secondary care interface: Does provision of more services in primary care reduce referrals to medical specialists?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 48-55.
    6. Grytten, Jostein & Carlsen, Fredrik & Skau, Irene, 2009. "Services production and patient satisfaction in primary care," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(3), pages 312-321, March.
    7. Walsh, Brendan & Nolan, Anne & Brick, Aoife & Keegan, Conor, 2019. "Did the expansion of free GP care impact demand for Emergency Department attendances? A difference-in-differences analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 101-111.
    8. Sharifah Haron & Deanna Sharpe & Jariah Masud & Mohamed Abdel-Ghany, 2010. "Health Divide: Economic and Demographic Factors Associated with Self-Reported Health Among Older Malaysians," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 328-337, September.
    9. Jonas Minet Kinge & Jostein Grytten, 2021. "The impact of primary care physician density on perinatal health: Evidence from a natural experiment," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(12), pages 2974-2994, December.
    10. Debra Osborne & Kathleen De Boer & Denny Meyer & Maja Nedeljkovic, 2023. "Raising Suicide in Medical Appointments—Barriers and Facilitators Experienced by Young Adults and GPs: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-16, January.
    11. Batana, Yélé Maweki, 2010. "Evolution of social inequalities in health in Quebec?," MPRA Paper 20710, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Smaldone, Francesco & Ippolito, Adelaide & Ruberto, Margherita, 2020. "The shadows know me: Exploring the dark side of social media in the healthcare field," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 19-32.
    13. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Loganathan, Nanthakumar & Mujahid, Nooreen & Ali, Amjad & Nawaz, Ahmed, 2015. "Determinants of Life Expectancy and its Prospects under the Role of Economic Misery: A Case of Pakistan," MPRA Paper 67167, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Oct 2015.
    14. Jatrana, Santosh & Crampton, Peter, 2009. "Affiliation with a primary care provider in New Zealand: Who is, who isn't," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(3), pages 286-296, August.
    15. Celia Dana BESCIU & Armenia ANDRONICEANU, 2017. "The link between social inequalities, health’ system characteristics and R&D expenditure- worldwide evidence," Romanian Statistical Review, Romanian Statistical Review, vol. 65(2), pages 21-41, June.
    16. Thomas, Rhys Llewellyn & Millett, Christopher & Sousa Soares, Ricardo de & Hone, Thomas, 2024. "More doctors, better health? A generalised synthetic control approach to estimating impacts of increasing doctors under Brazil's Mais Medicos programme," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).
    17. A. Spithoven, 2009. "Why U.S. health care expenditure and ranking on health care indicators are so different from Canada’s," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-24, March.
    18. Byaro, Mwoya & Rwezaula, Anicet & Ngowi, Nicholaus, 2023. "Does internet use and adoption matter for better health outcomes in sub-Saharan African countries? New evidence from panel quantile regression," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    19. Nolan, Anne & Smith, Samantha, 2012. "The effect of differential eligibility for free GP services on GP utilisation in Ireland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(10), pages 1644-1651.
    20. Ricardo Ocaña-Riola & Carmen Pérez-Romero & Mª Isabel Ortega-Díaz & José Jesús Martín-Martín, 2021. "Multilevel Zero-One Inflated Beta Regression Model for the Analysis of the Relationship between Exogenous Health Variables and Technical Efficiency in the Spanish National Health System Hospitals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-18, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0190036. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.