纽约州布法罗市一家为少数族裔提供服务的免费脊椎按摩诊所的人口统计学和转诊分析。

Demographic and referral analysis of a free chiropractic clinic servicing ethnic minorities in the Buffalo, NY area.

作者信息

Stevens Gerald L

机构信息

New York Chiropractic College, Depew Health Center, Depew, NY 14043, USA.

出版信息

J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2007 Oct;30(8):573-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jmpt.2007.07.016.

DOI:10.1016/j.jmpt.2007.07.016

PMID:17996548

Abstract

OBJECTIVE

The overall purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of patients presenting to a free clinic in an ethnic poor neighborhood and how they came to find out about this clinic. The objective of this study was to collect and analyze the demographic and referral information of a free clinic.

METHODS

Information was collected on patient age, race, sex, chief complaint, comorbidities, stages of care, zip code distribution, and referral source. The information collected was processed via Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corp, Redmond, Wash) and compared with other studies in the literature.

RESULTS

The patient population (n = 256) was 65% (167) female and 35% (89) male. The race of most of the patients was African American (63%, 161). Lumbopelvic complaints were most common (57%, 147), followed by the neck (18%, 45) and thoracic complaints (7%, 17). Most conditions were chronic in nature (68%, 174), and most patients came from Buffalo zip codes (88%, 225) and/or were in poverty (78%, 199). Referrals were from patients (27%, 69), walk-ins (25%, 65), or the result of multiple marketing efforts (34%, 98).

DISCUSSION

The low back/extremity chief complaints, number of female patients, and number of walk-ins to this free clinic were higher than expected when compared with other studies.

CONCLUSION

Most of the patient population seen at the Lighthouse Free Chiropractic Clinic was African American, female, from Buffalo, in poverty, and had lumbopelvic and/or chronic chief complaints. The largest number of referrals was from patients or walk-ins.

摘要

目的

本研究的总体目的是确定在一个贫困少数民族社区的免费诊所就诊的患者特征，以及他们是如何得知该诊所的。本研究的目的是收集和分析一家免费诊所的人口统计学和转诊信息。

方法

收集了患者的年龄、种族、性别、主诉、合并症、护理阶段、邮政编码分布和转诊来源等信息。所收集的信息通过微软Excel（微软公司，华盛顿州雷德蒙德）进行处理，并与文献中的其他研究进行比较。

结果

患者群体（n = 256）中女性占65%（167人），男性占35%（89人）。大多数患者的种族为非裔美国人（63%，161人）。腰骶部主诉最为常见（57%，147人），其次是颈部（18%，45人）和胸部主诉（7%，17人）。大多数病情为慢性（68%，174人），大多数患者来自布法罗的邮政编码区域（88%，225人）和/或处于贫困状态（78%，199人）。转诊来自患者（27%，69人）、未经预约而来的患者（25%，65人）或多种营销努力的结果（34%，98人）。