Investigating the leading reasons for primary health care encounters and its implications for health care in Trinidad and Tobago. A systematic review

Abstract

This systematic review aims at offering a comparative analysis of the leading reasons for encounters (RFEs) of patients presenting to primary care facilities. A systemic search was carried out using MEDLINE/PUBMED, CINAHL, Google Scholar, LILACS, and PROQUEST to identify the studies relevant to RFEs in primary health care in June 2020. Fifteen studies met the eligibility criteria which included originality, published between 2015 and 2020, listed two to five RFEs at a primary health care facility, and included patients with acute and/or chronic conditions. The mean total RFEs recorded were 6753.07 (Standard deviation = 17446.38, 95% Confidence Interval 6,753.0667 ± 8,829.088 [± 130.74%]). The most common RFE chapters recorded were Respiratory and Digestive chapters. The patients recorded fever as the most frequently reported RFE while cough was ranked as most common. The physicians reported hypertension as the most frequently reported and most common RFE. The most frequently physician and patient reported RFEs to the primary health care are hypertension and fever. Respiratory and Digestive were the most frequently reported chapters. The findings are useful for the proper implementation of services, facilities, and equipment utilized in Trinidad and Tobago primary health care.

Keywords: Clinic visit; Trinidad and Tobago; primary health care; reasons for encounters; systematic review.

Figure 1

Prisma 2020 flow chart showing the study selection of the included studies in this systematic review

Figure 2

Bar chart displaying RFEs frequency as reported by patients

Figure 3

Bar Chart displaying the frequency of physician-reported RFEs in five studies