Assessment of medical records of Cukurova University Faculty of Medicine Department of Medicine Outpatient Clinic

It is important to have high quality medical records to increase the quality of primary care health services and patient satisfaction, one of the indicators of quality and also to improve patient follow-ups. In this study that aimed to define the primary care patient profile, the medical records of 969 patients who admitted for the first time to the Family Medicine Outpatient Clinic of Cukurova University in 2007 were assessed retrospectively. Data was installed by ?Microsoft Excel? program and analyzed by SPSS for Windows version 11.0 packet program. The reasons for encounter and the diagnoses for the first 15 admissions were coded using ICD-10. The mean age of male patients was 23,97±23,68 years and of female patients was 26,54±21,23 years, 63,4 % of patients were female. The first three most common reasons for encounter in all admissions were respiratory abnormalities, coughing, and unidentified follow-up after treatment. The first three most common diagnoses in all admissions were essential (primary) hypertension, influenza and non insulin dependent uncomplicated diabetes mellitus. The highest number of encounters was in 0-39 age group (71,7 %); and in this group in 0-9 age subgroup (33,1 %). In conclusion, medical records should be reviewed periodically to contribute the improvement of primary care health services and interventions which are relevant for the patient profile should be performed.Key Words: Family Medicine, Primary Health Care Services, Reason for Encounter, Diagnosis, Complaint, Record, ICD-10.