Evaluation of primary care physicians' working conditions: Qualitative research

INTRODUCTION AND AIM: The strong and effective primary healthcare services depend on the ideal working conditions of the physicians working at this level and it is of great importance for the development of public health. In our study; interviews with family physicians were aimed to evaluate the working conditions of family physicians that provide primary health care services and to evaluate whether they had any problems related to these conditions, the improvements they anticipated for these problems and the opinions of the participants about the development of family medicine practices. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted between 3.11.2019-25.12.2019 in 14 different primary healthcare centers in Sakarya. The data in the study were collected using a semi-structured interview form that included questions on socio-demographic characteristics and working conditions. The data obtained through the in-depth interview technique are grouped under themes and categories. The grouped data were analyzed by coding. RESULTS: Of the 40 participants, 28 were men and 12 were women. The mean age was 41.47±9.13 years. The mean length of the participants' practice time was 16.30±8.93 years and the mean length of the participants' family medicine practice was 7.75±3.30 years. Several problems stand out among the problems stated by the participants regarding working conditions; the ambiguity of job descriptions, the inadequate physical conditions of the working environment, inappropriate requests from patients and unnecessary workload. Due to these problems, they stated that they could not spare enough time for preventive health services, which are the basis of family medicine practices. The improvements expected by the participants are; reducing the population registered in the family medicine units, switching to the appointment system and fully performing preventive medicine practices. Majority of the participants stated that they were hopeless that the improvements they expected could be realized. When asked about their ideas for the development of family medicine practices, participants stated physical conditions and educational opportunities of primary healthcare centers should be improved; coordinated work with secondary and tertiary healthcare centers should be ensured; and the uncertainty of job descriptions, role ambiguity and role conflict should be resolved in a way that would not be open to discussion. CONCLUSIONS: A strong primary healthcare system is needed to raise the health level of the people to the desired level. We think that the experience and opinions of currently working family physicians should be utilized while setting up and updating this system. KEY WORDS: Family medicine; Primary healthcare; Working conditions; Qualitative research; Role ambiguity