Quality Improvement in Health Care (한국의료질향상학회지)

Korean Society for Quality in Health Care (한국의료질향상학회)
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The Primary Care Performance of Three Types of Medical Institutions: A Public Survey using the Korean Primary Care Assessment Tool

  • Jung, Hye-Min (Department of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University College of Medicine) ;
  • Jo, Min-Woo (Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine) ;
  • Kim, Hyun-Joo (Department of Nursing Science, Shinsung University) ;
  • Jang, Won-Mo (Health Review and Assessment Committee, Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service) ;
  • Lee, Jin-Yong (Department of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University College of Medicine) ;
  • Eun, Sang-Jun (Department of Preventive Medicine, Chungnam National University School of Medicine)
  • Received : 2019.09.08
  • Accepted : 2019.10.16
  • Published : 2019.12.31
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Abstract

Purpose:The healthcare system of South Korea is at the extreme of the dispersed system. Few regulations limit patients from directly visiting higher-level medical institutions for primary care sensitive conditions. As a result, similar to local clinics, general and tertiary teaching hospitals also provide diverse primary care services. Our study aimed to examine the general public's perceptions of their primary care performance. Methods: Face-to-face surveys were conducted with 1000 adults who were living in South Korea with the aid of a questionnaire that included the Korean Primary Care Assessment Tool (KPCAT). The KPCAT consists of five domains, which are the main indicators of primary care performance: first contact, comprehensiveness, coordination, personalized care, and family/community orientation. One-way analysis of variance and post hoc tests were used to compare the KPCAT scores across the three types of medical institutions. Results: Domain-wise analyses revealed two different patterns. With regard to first contact and its subdomains, the highest and lowest scores emerged for local clinics and tertiary teaching hospitals, respectively. However, the other four domain scores were significantly lower for local clinics than for the other two types of medical institutions. Conclusions: Local clinics were perceived to be medical institutions that are responsible for providing primary care. However, the general public perceived only one domain of their primary care to be superior to that of the other two types of medical institutions: first contact. National efforts should be taken to strengthen their other four domains of primary care by training their workforce and providing appropriate incentives.

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