Green Samantha, Foran Jessica, Kouyoumdjian Fiona G
Department of Family and Community Medicine, St. Michael's Hospital, 30 Bond Street, Toronto, ON, M5B 1W8, Canada.
Department of Political Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
BMC Res Notes. 2016 Feb 29;9:131. doi: 10.1186/s13104-016-1935-4.
Little is known about access to primary care either prior to or following incarceration in Canada. International data demonstrate that the health of people in prisons and jails is poor, and access to primary care in the community may be inadequate for incarcerated persons. We aimed to describe the primary care experience of adults in custody in a provincial correctional facility in Ontario in the 12 months prior to admission.
We conducted a written survey, and invited all persons in the institution to participate, excluding those in segregation.
One hundred and twenty-five persons participated, 16.8% of whom were women. The median age was 33. In the 12 months prior to admission to custody, 32.2% (95% CI 23.5-40.8%) of respondents did not have a family doctor or other primary care provider and 48.2% (95% CI 38.8-57.6%) had unmet health needs. Participants reported a mean of 2.1 (SD = 2.8) emergency department visits in the 12 months prior to admission.
Study participants report a lack of access to primary care, a high mean number of emergency department visits, and high unmet health care needs in the 12 months prior to incarceration. Time in custody may present an opportunity for connecting this population with primary care and improving health.
在加拿大，人们对入狱前后获得初级保健服务的情况知之甚少。国际数据表明，监狱中的人的健康状况不佳，社区中为被监禁者提供的初级保健服务可能不足。我们旨在描述安大略省一所省级惩教设施中被拘留成年人在入院前12个月的初级保健经历。
我们进行了一项书面调查，并邀请该机构中的所有人参与，但被隔离者除外。
125人参与了调查，其中16.8%为女性。年龄中位数为33岁。在被拘留入院前的12个月中，32.2%（95%可信区间23.5 - 40.8%）的受访者没有家庭医生或其他初级保健提供者，48.2%（95%可信区间38.8 - 57.6%）有未满足的健康需求。参与者报告在入院前的12个月中平均有2.1次（标准差 = 2.8）急诊就诊。
研究参与者报告在入狱前的12个月中难以获得初级保健服务，急诊就诊平均次数较多，且有大量未满足的医疗保健需求。被拘留的这段时间可能为将这部分人群与初级保健服务联系起来并改善健康状况提供了一个机会。
