[Difficult to treat patients in primary care: are they satisfied with the care received in their health centre?].

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the satisfaction of difficult to treat patients (DTP) cared for by a primary care team (PCT), as regards the organisational aspects and the care received, and to compare it with that obtained by a sample of the general patient population (GPP). DESIGN. Cross-sectional descriptive study.

SETTING

Urban health centre.

PARTICIPANTS

One hundred-one DTP participated, after being selected using Ellis and O'Dowd criteria by 8 doctors.

METHOD

Between March and May 2004 the DTP were given self-administered anonymous questionnaires, prepared and validated by the Catalonian Health Institute, which was divided into 8 sections for their analysis. The results were compared with those obtained in June 2003 from a representative sample from the GPP.

RESULTS

A total of 52 questionnaires were returned (51% participation), of which 62% were from women, with a mean age of 61.5+/-12.3. Average scores (0 to 10) were: organisation 7.2+/-1.8; (95% confidence intervale [CI], 6.6-7.7), care by the doctors 8.4+/-2.1 (95% CI, 7.7-9), by nurses 7.9+/-2.1 (95% CI, 7.3-8.6), by administrators 6.9+/-1.9 (95% CI, 6.3-7.4), care resolved 7.2+/-2 (95% CI, 6.6-7.9), installations 7.6+/-1.7 (95% CI, 7.1-8.1), overall satisfaction 7.5+/-1.8 (95% CI, 7-8), and total satisfaction total 7.2+/-1.6 (95% CI, 6.8-7.7). The 91.7% (95% CI, 80-97.7) would recommend their friends to be treated in the centre. All the scores are higher than those in the GPP sample, with no statistical differences in the care by doctors and nurses sections.

CONCLUSIONS

Although the relationships with the DTP are often problematic, the results show a high level of satisfaction within the DTP in all the sections evaluated, even higher than that of the GPP group.