Reasons for encounter in primary care

Poster winner of the day, Prague, Wonca world conference 2013

D. Molony, C. Beam

1 The Red House Family Practice, Mallow Primary Healthcare Centre, Cork, Ireland;

2 Complete GP, Mallow Primary Healthcare Centre, Cork, Ireland

Objective: There is currently no data available on the reasons for encounter during a general practice consultation. The Irish Healthcare system is currently in a state of change. Chronic care is being transferred from secondary to primary care along with a proposed universal healthcare system. Primary care will be free to patients at the point of contact. It is imperative therefore that we have a detailed description of the reasons for encounter in primary care. This will have a direct impact on the future delivery of services and governmental policy.

Methods: Four GPs in Mallow Primary Healthcare centre recorded the reason for encounter for every consultation over a two year period. The age of the patients was grouped according to general medical scheme age categories. ICPC-2 coding was used.

Results: Over a two year period 26,452 reasons for encounter were documented from 19,766 consultations involving a cohort of 3,771 patients. 496 diff erent ICPC-2 codes were used. The number of consultations was equal for public and private patients. The most common reason for encounter was respiratory symptoms and disease. This was greatest in the 0-15 age category. Prevalence ratios for each age category allowed for comparison between age groups.

Conclusion: For many consultations in primary care there are a number of reasons for encounter. This study categorises and defines these reasons based on different age categories. This study informs general practitioners and policy makers of one of the core challenges of primary care which was previously unknown.