How do primary care patients perceive information for involving themselves in self-care?

Abstract

            Background. Analyze if patients receive information from their GPs to engage in self-management (medication, physical exercise or diet).

             Methods. A descriptive study in which 2,401 randomly selected, primary care patients were interviewed by telephone. A short scale of 6 questions was used to analyze if they received information for self-care. Statistics included analyzing differences according to age, sex, occurrence of security incidents, whether they regularly attended the physician’s surgery and length of consultation time.

             Results. A total of 2,350 patients responded (97.9% response rate). A total of 1,253 (34.6%) of respondents obtained 5 or more points on the scale (percentile 50). Receiving information about foreseeable prognosis increased satisfaction (OR 11.2 (95% 8.3-15.3). Consultation time length (p<0.01), regularly visiting physicians (p<0.01), and not suffering an adverse event (p<0.01) were associated with higher scores on the scale.

             Conclusions. Patients report they receive directions for the proper management of medication at home, but claim that they receive less information to engage in healthy behaviors.

             Key words. Patient activation. Patient engagement. Patient safety. Medication. Health care quality.