Attitudes towards family physicians and primary health care among urban adults in South India

Abstract

As the healthcare delivery system changes rapidly, it is critical to identify a complete, evidence-based role for family physicians. The family doctor with his/her reassuring demeanor, willingness to go beyond the line to care for the family, is becoming an endangered entity in the age of specialists and super specialists. Therefore, this study’s rationale is to understand the common man’s perception about the family doctor. We believe that this study will open up horizons in enhancing the quality of primary healthcare in India, emphasising the need for patient-centred approaches in primary healthcare.
Methods
A cross-sectional survey of 219 persons was done to measure perceptions regarding family physicians and primary care in an urban setting. Domains on various facets of patient doctor relationship, role of family physicians in present day, and basic care were included in the questionnaire. SPSS version 17.0 was used to analyze the data, and a P value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results
The majority of the participants value the premise of a family doctor in providing individualised and comprehensive patient care. The study reveals different association variables such as age, sex, education and marital status, and place of residence which were found to be significant in some cases and to be insignificant in some cases when interviewed in association with family physicians.
Conclusion:
The study has shown that the common man would like to go back to the tradition of having a family doctor who would be able to provide more individualized and tailor made health care suited to their specific needs.It establishes that primary care should be very patient centered, instead of specialty care that is more disease centered. Recognition of family medicine as a distinct entity , integration into current medical curricula and better financial incentives for the practicing family physicians will enable to resurrect the ‘Family Doctor’, which is the need of the hour.