Primary care organization and performance: A cross sectional study of outpatients experience in Malawi

Joint Event on 3^rd International Conference on General Practice & Primary Care & 24^th International Conference on Dental Public Health & Dental Hygiene

August 16-17, 2018 Madrid, Spain

Luckson Wandani Dullie, Eivind Meland, Oystein Hetlevik, Thomas Mildestvedt and Sturla Gjesdal

University of Bergen, Norway
Partners in Health, Malawi
University of Malawi College of Medicine, Norway

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Gen Pract

Abstract :

Background: Assessing patientsâ?? experience with primary care compliments measures of clinical health outcomes in evaluating its performance. Measuring patientsâ?? experience and satisfaction are among Malawiâ??s health sector strategic goals. The purpose of this study was to investigate patientsâ?? experience with primary care and to assess associated patientsâ?? sociodemographic, healthcare and health characteristics. Methods: This was a cross sectional survey using questionnaires administered in primary care facilities in Neno district, Malawi. Face to face interviews using a validated Malawian version of the primary care assessment tool (PCAT-Mw) were carried out to collect data on patientsâ?? primary care experience and their sociodemographic, healthcare and health characteristics. Total primary care and domain mean scores were derived for access, continuity, comprehensiveness and community orientation. Linear regression models were used to assess association between primary care attribute scores and patientsâ?? characteristics. Results: From 631 completed questionnaires, first contact-access, relational continuity and comprehensiveness of services available scored below the accepted minimum. Sex, geographical location, self-rated health status, duration of contact with facility and facility affiliation were associated with patientsâ?? experience with primary care. These factors explained 10.9% of the noted variance in total primary care scores; 25.2% in comprehensiveness of services available and 29.4% in first contact access. Conclusion: This paper presents results from the first use of the validated PCAT-Mw. The study provides a baseline for defining quality improvement gaps and can be used alongside clinical health outcome studies to provide comprehensive evaluation of primary care performance in Malawi

Biography :

Luckson Wandani Dullie is a current Executive Director of Partners in Health (APZU) in Malawi, in the remote and rural district of Neno. His specialties include experiential understanding of the challenges of rural medicine, development of training programs for effective delivery of comprehensive community oriented primary health care, negotiating public sector partnerships and an array of clinical skills spanning tropical medicine, obstetrics, and general surgery. At present he is a PhD Fellow at the Centre for International Health, Department of Global Public Health and Primary care of the University of Bergen in Norway. His research interest is in understanding patients’ perspectives of primary care interventions.

E-mail: ldullie@pih.org