The study of urban family physicians performance and its related factors in the south of Iran

Abstract

Introduction: The Family Physician Program is one of the most important plans for increasing the equitable access and affordable health services. This study aimed to examine the performance of Urban Family Physicians and associated factors in the third year of its implementation.Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on all Family Physicians (31 persons) working in the private and public polyclinics and clinics in the Firoozabad, from October to December 2014. The population of the study consisted of all the physicians (31 persons) who were involved in the Family Medicine Program. The main instrument for data gathering was a standard questionnaire developed by Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME). Validity and reliability of the questionnaire have been confirmed by MOHME. The questionnaire had four parts including medical equipment, informing the patients, referral system rules, and protocols. The data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software, version 16, through appropriate statistical tests including Independent T-test, Pearson Correlation, One sample T-test, in a significance level of<0.05.Results: Findings of the study showed that there was not a significant association between performance of physicians and equipment (77.20 ± 22.80). Their performance based on informing patients (81.59±16.69), protocols (82.42±12.05), and total performance (82.41±13.42) was good. Their performance in terms of referral system (69.35 ±16.15) was weak. There were not any association between the performance and marital status, age, career, and sex. In contrast, there was a significant relationship between nativity and performance so that the performance of native physicians was better.Conclusion: The Urban Family Physician is an outstanding step for improving the public health but its successful implementing needs to develop an appropriate solution for employing the native physicians. It seems that applying various incentives and employing the native physicians in terms of their ability and training them about the importance of referral systems in public health will be helpful.Keywords: Family medicine, Performance, Urban family physician, Referral system