Abstract

Objective: To explore reasons for attending a general emergency outpatient clinic versus a regular general practitioner (RGP).

Design: Cross-sectional study using a multilingual anonymous questionnaire.

Setting: Native and immigrant walk-in patients attending a general emergency outpatient clinic in Oslo (Monday–Friday, 08:00–23:00) during 2 weeks in September 2009.

Subjects: We included 1022 walk-in patients: 565 native Norwegians (55%) and 457 immigrants (45%).

Main outcome measures: Patients’ reasons for attending an emergency outpatient clinic versus their RGP.

Results: Among patients reporting an RGP affiliation, 49% tried to contact their RGP before this emergency encounter: 44% of native Norwegian and 58% of immigrant respondents. Immigrants from Africa [odds ratio (OR) = 2.55 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.46–4.46)] and Asia [OR = 2.32 (95% CI: 1.42–3.78)] were more likely to contact their RGP before attending the general emergency outpatient clinic compared with native Norwegians. The most frequent reason for attending the emergency clinic was difficulty making an immediate appointment with their RGP. A frequent reason for not contacting an RGP was lack of access: 21% of the native Norwegians versus 4% of the immigrants claimed their RGP was in another district/municipality, and 31% of the immigrants reported a lack of affiliation with the RGP scheme.

Conclusions and implications: Access to primary care provided by an RGP affects patients’ use of emergency health care services. To facilitate continuity of health care, policymakers should emphasize initiatives to improve access to primary health care services.

    KEY POINTS

  • Access to immediate primary health care provided by a regular general practitioner (RGP) can reduce patients’ use of emergency health care services.

  • The main reason for attending a general emergency outpatient clinic was difficulty obtaining an immediate appointment with an RGP.

  • A frequent reason for native Norwegians attending a general emergency outpatient clinic during the daytime is having an RGP outside Oslo.

  • Lack of affiliation with the RGP scheme is a frequent reason for attending a general emergency outpatient clinic among immigrants.

Details

Title
Reasons for attending a general emergency outpatient clinic versus a regular general practitioner – a survey among immigrant and native walk-in patients in Oslo, Norway
Author
Ruud, Sven Eirik 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Hjortdahl, Per 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Natvig, Bård 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

1  Department of General Practice, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway;; Department of Emergency General Practice, City of Oslo Health Agency, Oslo, Norway 
2  Department of General Practice, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; 
End page
45
Publication year
2017
Publication date
Mar 2017
Publisher
Taylor & Francis LLC
ISSN
02813432
e-ISSN
15027724
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2199212445
Copyright
© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons  Attribution – Non-Commercial License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.