Snapshot of the primary care waiting room: Informing practice redesign to align with the Patient's Medical Home model.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the demographic characteristics, health, and health care experiences of adult patients in primary care waiting rooms in Quebec, and to determine which pillars of the Patient's Medical Home (PMH) are a priority to align primary care practices with the PMH model.

DESIGN

Baseline survey of a prospective cohort study using self-administered on-site and mailed questionnaires.

SETTING

Twelve primary care clinics within the geographic boundaries of 4 local health care networks in metropolitan, urban, rural, and remote settings in Quebec.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 1029 adult patients aged between 25 and 75 who were selected during a 1-week period in the 12 primary care clinics; 789 returned questionnaires.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Patients' health profiles, health behaviour patterns, reasons for the visit, and health care experiences.

RESULTS

In this 2010 snapshot, 66.8% of patients waited longer than 2 weeks for their appointment, 71.0% of visits were for routine or follow-up care, and longer wait times and patient multimorbidity correlated with more reasons for the visit. After the visit, most patients reported being able to express their most important needs and that the doctor listened well; however, only 28.1% reported that the doctor had explored whether the recommendations would be realistic for them, and only 18.0% indicated that the doctor had explored the personal or family dimensions that affected their health. Among all patients, 56.9% reported having at least 3 chronic conditions (multimorbidity), and 30.3% reported having high or moderate levels of psychological distress. When describing their financial status, 30.7% of patients indicated it was "poor to squeezed or tight." Slightly more than half of patients did not have complementary private health insurance to cover costs of psychological services.

CONCLUSION

In this study, the 4 priority pillars for practices to align with the PMH were timely access, team-based care, comprehensive care, and a patient-centred approach. Widespread implementation of advanced access is an urgent priority in light of persisting difficulties in timely access. Team-based and comprehensive care are needed to address the high prevalence of multimorbidity and psychological distress and to support health behaviour change. Finally, the patient-centred approach needs to underpin every care encounter.