Continuity of care in primary health care practices

ABSTRACTContinuity of Care in Primary Health Care PracticesContinuity of care is one of the principles of family medicine discipline. In this study, we examined the knowledge, attitude and behaviour of primary care physicians in two cities for the continuity of care using 'telephone interview' method. The sample was selected from primary care physicians working in Adana and Duzce cities. The questionnaire was modified from the questionnaire for the continuity of care in family medicine by Stokes and colleagues. The telephone interviews were performed in "Telephone and Internet Research Center of Cukurova University".Out of 98 physicians working in Family Medicine Centers in Duzce, 91 (92.8%) and out of 108 physicians working in primary care 101 (93.5%) were reached. Mean age of physicians in Adana was 40.7±5.7 and it was 33.0±4.5 for the ones in Duzce. The mean score for continuity of medical records for the primary care physicians in Duzce and Adana, respectively, were 3.3±1.0 and 2.8±1.1 (p<0.001), the mean score for the longitudinal continuity was 2.6±1.2 and 2.5±1.0 (p>0.05) and the scores for the personal continuity were 4.2±0.9 and 4.0±1.0 (p>0.05).We suggest that the concepts of informational, longitudinal and personal continuity were all better understood and provided by primary care physicians in Duzce. In this context, family medicine practices should be improved and widespread in order to improve the quality of primary care.Keywords:Adana, continuity of care, primary health care, Duzce.