Journal List > Korean J Health Promot > v.17(3) > 1089915

Experience of Lifetime Health Maintenance Clinic in a Tertiary Hospital: Patients Satisfaction and Associated Factors

Abstract

Background:

Lifetime health maintenance program (LHMP) is designed for individualized disease prevention and health promotion through regular health checkups and improving risk factors. This study aimed to investigate patients’ satisfaction of lifetime health clinic (LHC) in a tertiary hospital and to evaluate associated factors in order to support primary health care strengthening policy.

Methods:

We conducted surveys for patients, who visited LHC in a department of family medicine at a tertiary hospital from March 1st 2016 to December 31st 2016. We analyzed proportions and characteristics associated with patients, who were willing to recommend LHC. The relationship between willingness to recommend LHC and associated factors were evaluated by multivariate logistic regression analyses.

Results:

Among the patients who answered the questionnaires, 83.7% responded that they would recommend LHC to others. Results from multivariate analyses suggested that patients living in provinces (odds ratio [OR] 4.21, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.36-13.02), patients who were recommend by others to visit LHC (OR 3.99, 95% CI, 1.29-12.35), and those who had a large number of medical service preference items (OR 5.91, 95% CI, 1.48-23.58) were significantly associated with willingness to recommend LHC.

Conclusions:

LHC pursues the goal of primary care. Findings highlight the fact that high quality health service should be provided in small and municipal hospitals to improve patients’ satisfaction. Furthermore, it is essential to establish family physician networks and health service infrastructure that can reflect various opinions.

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Table 1.
Basic characteristics of the patients (n=184)
Characteristic Value
Age, y  
≤59 52 (28.3)
60 to 69 73 (39.7)
≥70 59 (32.1)
Gender  
Male 92 (50.0)
Female 92 (50.0)
Reason for registration
Recommendation by physicians in family department 95 (51.6)
Recommendation by physicians in another department 9 (4.9)
Brochures 10 (5.4)
Recommendation by acquaintance 63 (34.2)
Recommendation by family 7 (3.8)
Registration count  
One time 54 (29.3)
Two times 20 (10.9)
Three times 14 (7.6)
Four times 2 (1.1)
More than five times 94 (51.1)
Comorbidities (multiple choice)
Hypertension 110 (59.8)
Diabetes mellitus 52 (28.3)
Dyslipidemia 104 (56.5)
Osteoporosis 26 (14.1)
Gastrointestinal disease 31 (16.8)
Depression 16 (8.7)
Thyroid disease 17 (9.2)
Prostate disease 25 (8.6)
Menopause 7 (3.8)
Questionnaire items for evaluating satisfaction (multiple choice)
Detailed explanation by family physician 182 (98.9)
Personalized checkups 156 (84.8)
All day helpline 97 (52.7)
Notification of the scheduled date for checkup 96 (52.2)
Offering healthcare newsletters 75 (40.8)
Kindness of medical team 151 (82.1)
Same-day appointment 105 (57.1)
Fast reservation 102 (55.4)
Purpose of visit (multiple choice) 57 (31.0)
Illness visits 57 (31.0)
Wellness visits 129 (70.1)
Consultation visits 35 (19.0)

Values are presented as number (%) or mean (SD). Data are analyzed by Frequency and Descriptive analysis.

Table 2.
Clinical characteristics of the patients according to the willingness to recommend LHC
Characteristic Outpatients
Total (n=184) Recommend (n=154) Not recommend (n=30) Pa
Age, y   64.53±12.19 64.33±11.65 0.957
≤59 52 (28.3) 43 (82.7) 9 (17.3)  
60-69 73 (39.7) 61 (83.6) 12 (16.4)  
70≥ 59 (32.1) 50 (84.7) 9 (15.3)  
Gender       0.000
Male 92 (50) 77 (83.7) 15 (16.3)  
Female 92 (50) 77 (83.7) 15 (16.3)  
Reason for registration       0.017
Recommendation by physicians 104 (56.5) 80 (76.9) 24 (23.1)  
Brochures 10 (5.4) 9 (90.0) 1 (10.0)  
Recommendation of acquaintance 70 (38.0) 65 (92.9) 5 (7.1)  
Registration count       0.219
One 54 (29.3) 43 (79.6) 11 (20.4)  
Two-four 36 (19.6) 28 (77.8) 8 (22.2)  
More than five 94 (51.1) 83 (88.3) 11 (11.7)  
Area       0.008
Metropolitan (Seoul) 114 (62.0) 89 (78.1) 25 (21.9)  
Provinces 70 (38.0) 65 (92.9) 5 (7.1)  
Numbers of disease       0.701
One 54 (29.3) 47 (87.0) 7 (13.0)  
Two 70 (38.0) 57 (81.4) 13 (18.6)  
More than three 60 (32.6) 50 (83.3) 10 (16.7)  
Questionnaire items for evaluating satisfaction (multiple choice)       0.042
Less than three 52 (28.3) 41 (78.8) 11 (21.2)  
Four-six 71 (38.6) 56 (78.9) 15 (21.1)  
Seven-eight 61 (33.2) 57 (93.4) 4 (6.6)  
Purpose of visit (multiple choice)        
Illness visits       0.461
Yes 57 (31.0) 46 (80.7) 11 (19.3)  
No 127 (69.0) 108 (85.0) 19 (15.0)  
Wellness visits       0.376
Yes 129 (70.1) 110 (85.3) 19 (14.7)  
No 55 (29.9) 44 (80.0) 11 (20.0)  
Consultation visits       0.386
Yes 35 (19.0) 31 (88.6) 4 (11.4)  
No 149 (81.0) 123 (82.6) 26 (17.4)  

Abbreviation: LHC, lifetime health clinic. Values are presented as number (%) or mean±standard deviation.

a P-values are analyzed by chi-square test

Table 3.
Multivariate analyses of the characteristics associated with willingness to recommend LHC
Variable Crude OR (95% Cl) P Multivariable ORa (95% Cl) Pb
Age, y        
≤59 1 N/A 1 N/A
60-69 1.06 (0.41-2.75) 0.898 1.79 (0.58-5.58) 0.314
≥70 1.16 (0.42-3.19) 0.770 2.22 (0.65-7.55) 0.202
Gender        
Male 1 N/A 1 N/A
Female 1.00 (0.46-2.19) 1.00 1.15 (0.46-2.86) 0.763
Area        
Metropolitan (Seoul) 1 N/A 1 N/A
Provinces 3.65 (1.33-10.05) 0.012 4.21(1.36-13.02) 0.013
Reason for registration        
Recommendation of medical staff 1 N/A 1 N/A
Brochures 2.70 (0.33-22.40) 0.358 4.14 (0.39-44.33) 0.240
Recommendation of acquaintance 3.90 (1.41-10.79) 0.009 3.99 (1.29-12.35) 0.016
Registration Count        
One 1 N/A 1 N/A
Two-four 0.90 (0.32-2.50) 0.833 0.78 (0.23-2.70) 0.696
More than five 1.93 (0.77-4.81) 0.158 2.22 (0.75-6.62) 0.152
Numbers of disease        
One 1 N/A 1 N/A
Two 0.65 (0.24-1.77) 0.402 0.52 (0.16-1.66) 0.279
More than three 0.75 (0.26-2.12) 0.580 0.78 (0.24-2.52) 0.782
Questionnaire items for evaluating satisfaction        
Less than three 1 N/A 1 N/A
Four-six 1.00 (0.42-2.41) 0.997 1.26 (0.45-3.50) 0.657
Seven-eight 3.82 (1.14-12.86) 0.030 5.91 (1.48-23.58) 0.012
Purpose of visits (multiple choice)        
Illness visits        
No 1 N/A 1 N/A
Yes 0.74 (0.32-1.67) 0.463 1.19 (0.32-4.38) 0.795
Wellness visits        
No 1 N/A 1 N/A
Yes 1.45 (0.64-3.29) 0.377 1.17 (0.44-6.53) 0.448
Consultations visits        
No 1 N/A 1 N/A
Yes 1.64 (0.53-5.04) 0.389 1.62 (0.34-7.76) 0.547

Abbreviations: LHC, lifetime health clinic; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; NA, not applicable.

a Multivariable OR are adjusted for age, gender, area, cause of registration, counts of registration, numbers of disease, satisfaction question, purpose of visit.

b P-values are analyzed by logistic regression and statistically significant P<0.05 are shown.

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