A prospective study of services utilization of a hospital-based employee health clinic.

BACKGROUND

Little is known regarding the utilization of services of a hospital-based employee health clinic (EHC).

MATERIAL/METHODS: We evaluated the utilization of services of the EHC of a tertiary hospital in Greece. Demographic and clinical data were prospectively collected and analyzed for all employees who visited the EHC during a 24-month period (01/06/2003-31/05/2005).

RESULTS

A total of 939 primary and 55 follow-up visits were recorded. Of all 994 visits, 419 were made by nurses (42%), 270 by administrative staff (27%), and only 15 visits by physicians (1%). Only 5.6% of physicians used the EHC during the study period (14 out of 252 doctors) whereas 35.4% of the nurses (218 out of 615) visited the EHC at least once (p<0.001). Three hundred and one of the rest 544 employees (55.3%) visited the EHC, significantly more than physicians (p < 0.001) and nurses (p<0.001). The majority of employees who visited the clinic were females (78%), while the most common reason for consultation was periodic evaluation accounting for 108 visits (11%), followed by abdominal pain (99 visits, 10%), dizziness (48 visits, 5%), and respiratory tract infections (44 visits, 5%). A significant reduction in the number of visits was observed after the 9(th) month of the study, coinciding with a change in the worker's health insurance policy (p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Periodic evaluations, abdominal pain, dizziness, respiratory tract infections, and weakness/malaise cover the bulk of consultation visits of a hospital-based EHC. Physicians were the group of employees that visited the EHC less often.