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. 2018 Mar;64(3):212-220.

Patients' perceptions of access to primary care: Analysis of the QUALICOPC Patient Experiences Survey

Kamila Premji  1 , Bridget L Ryan  2 , William E Hogg  3 , Walter P Wodchis  4
Affiliations

Patients' perceptions of access to primary care: Analysis of the QUALICOPC Patient Experiences Survey

Kamila Premji et al. Can Fam Physician. 2018 Mar.

Abstract
in English, French

Objective: To gain a more comprehensive understanding of patients' perceptions of access to their primary care practice and how these relate to patient characteristics.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Ontario.

Participants: Adult primary care patients in Ontario (N = 1698) completing the Quality and Costs of Primary Care (QUALICOPC) Patient Experiences Survey.

Main outcome measures: Responses to 11 access-related survey items, analyzed both individually and as a Composite Access Score (CAS).

Results: The mean (SD) CAS was 1.78 (0.16) (the highest possible CAS was 2 and the lowest was 1). Most patients (68%) waited more than 1 day for their appointment. By far most (96%) stated that it was easy to obtain their appointment and that they obtained that appointment as soon as they wanted to (87%). There were no statistically significant relationships between CAS and sex, language fluency, income, education, frequency of emergency department use, or chronic disease status. A higher CAS was associated with being older and being born in Canada, better self-reported health, and increased frequency of visits to a doctor.

Conclusion: Despite criticisms of access to primary care, this study found that Ontario patients belonging to primary care practices have favourable impressions of their access. There were few statistically significant relationships between patient characteristics and access, and these relationships appeared to be weak.

Objectif: Avoir une compréhension plus large de ce que pensent les patients de l’accès aux services des cliniques qui leur fournissent des soins primaires et déterminer en quoi leur opinion dépend des caractéristiques des patients.

Type d’étude: Une étude transversale.

Contexte: L’Ontario.

Participants: Des adultes recevant des soins primaires en Ontario (N = 1698) et qui ont répondu au Quality and Cost of Primary Care (QUALICOPC) Patient Experiences Survey.

Principaux paramètres à l’étude: Les réponses à 11 items de l’enquête portant sur l’accès, analysées individuellement et en tant que Composite Access Score (CAS).

Résultats: Le CAS moyen (DS) était de 1,78 (0,16) (la plus haute valeur possible du CAS était 2 et la plus basse, 1). La plupart des répondants (68 %) devaient attendre plus d’une journée pour leur rendez-vous. La très grande majorité des répondants (96 %) affirmaient qu’il était facile d’obtenir un rendez-vous et qu’ils pouvaient l’obtenir aussi rapidement qu’ils le voulaient (87 %). Il n’y avait aucune relation statiquement significative entre la valeur du CAS et le sexe, la facilité de communiquer, le revenu, l’éducation, la fréquence des visites au services des urgences ou le statut de malade chronique du patient. Il existait toutefois une association entre le fait d’être plus âgé et d’être né au Canada, un meilleur état de santé auto-déclaré et une fréquence accrue des visites au médecin.

Conclusion: Malgré certaines critiques à l’égard de l’accès aux soins de première ligne, cette étude a trouvé que les clients ontariens de cliniques de soins primaires ont une impression favorable de la facilité d’accès aux services de leur clinique. Il y avait peu de relation entre les caractéristiques des patients et la facilité d’accès aux services, et ces relations semblaient faibles.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Responses to access-related items on the QUALICOPC Patient Experiences Survey: The denominators vary because not all questions were answered by all respondents. QUALICOPC—Quality and Costs of Primary Care.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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