Investigation of the manageability of patients who applied to the pulmonology outpatient clinic in primary care

INTRODUCTION AND AIM: To investigate the reasons for patients' visits to the Chest Diseases outpatient clinic of an educational and research hospital, their history of visiting family physicians, the manageability of their reasons for visiting at the primary care level, and the impact of primary healthcare services on the outpatient clinic workload. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This single-center, descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 500 patients aged 18 and over who applied to the Sakarya Training and Research Hospital Chest Diseases Polyclinic. Data were collected through a 34-question survey administered face-to-face from October 1, 2023, to February 28, 2024. The SPSS 22.0 statistical package was used for data analysis, with statistical significance set at p<0.05. RESULTS: According to the study, 12.8% of patients at the chest diseases outpatient clinic could be managed in primary care, while 30.6% could be managed if the relevant systems were covered by SSI. Additionally, 36.0% of patients were not manageable in primary care due to limited laboratory, imaging, or testing options. There was also a significant difference between the number of chronic diseases and their frequency of visits to the family physician (p<0.05). Furthermore, significant differences were observed between variables such as, the institution of first application based on the family doctor's title, frequency of applying to the family doctor, and the status of consulting the family doctor before visiting the chest diseases outpatient clinic (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Strengthening the family medicine implementation, implementing mandatory referral, and increasing the capacity of primary healthcare services can encourage patients to visit Family Health Centers (ASMs), reduce hospital congestion, and improve the efficiency of healthcare services.