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Changing patterns of home visiting in general practice.
Berg, M. van den, Cardol, M., Bongers, F., Bakker, D. de. Changing patterns of home visiting in general practice. Occhio Clinico: 2006(suppl. 6) 181. Abstract. 12th Regional Conference of the European Society of General Practice/Family Medicine: "Towards medical renaissance bridging the gap between biology and humanities", Florence, Italy on 27-30 August 2006.
Background. In the past decades, there has been a world wide decrease in home visiting rates in general practice. The purpose of our study was to investigate how the decrease in home visits between 1987 and 2001 varies across different diagnoses in proportion to their urgency. This information can contribute to the debate about the risk of decreasing home-visits. Methods. Data used originate from two Dutch National Surveys of General Practice (1987 and 2001). These data contain 246738 recorded face-to-face-contacts of 124791 patients in. 103 practices in 1987 and 77167 contacts of 58345 patients in 80 practices in 2001. For 246 diagnoses the percentage of home-visits for both years was calculated. Regression analyses were carried out, using the proportion of home-visits in 2001 for a diagnosis as the dependent variable and the percentage of home visits for the same diagnosis in 1987 as independent variable. Results. The average proportion of home-visits decreased by 25% between 1987 and 2001. However, our model shows that the relation between the proportion of home-visits for a diagnosis in both years is curvilinear (J-shaped), indicating that this decrease is relatively small for urgent cases and stronger for less urgent cases. (a top-5 of decreases will be reported). Conclusion: The decline in home-visits is not necessarily worrisome. Medical consideration still plays an important role in the decision whether or not to pay a home visit. In case of emergency, GPs still visit their patients. (aut. ref.)
Background. In the past decades, there has been a world wide decrease in home visiting rates in general practice. The purpose of our study was to investigate how the decrease in home visits between 1987 and 2001 varies across different diagnoses in proportion to their urgency. This information can contribute to the debate about the risk of decreasing home-visits. Methods. Data used originate from two Dutch National Surveys of General Practice (1987 and 2001). These data contain 246738 recorded face-to-face-contacts of 124791 patients in. 103 practices in 1987 and 77167 contacts of 58345 patients in 80 practices in 2001. For 246 diagnoses the percentage of home-visits for both years was calculated. Regression analyses were carried out, using the proportion of home-visits in 2001 for a diagnosis as the dependent variable and the percentage of home visits for the same diagnosis in 1987 as independent variable. Results. The average proportion of home-visits decreased by 25% between 1987 and 2001. However, our model shows that the relation between the proportion of home-visits for a diagnosis in both years is curvilinear (J-shaped), indicating that this decrease is relatively small for urgent cases and stronger for less urgent cases. (a top-5 of decreases will be reported). Conclusion: The decline in home-visits is not necessarily worrisome. Medical consideration still plays an important role in the decision whether or not to pay a home visit. In case of emergency, GPs still visit their patients. (aut. ref.)