A Cross-Sectional Comparison of Perceived Quality of Primary Care by Hypertensive Patients in Shanghai and Shenzhen, China. Issue 34 (August 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Haitao; Wei, Xiaolin; Wong, Martin Chi-Sang; Wong, Samuel Yeung-Shan; Yang, Nan; Griffiths, Sian M.; Ravishankar, Jayadevappa.
• Is Part Of: Medicine. Volume 94:Issue 34(2015)
• Publication Date: 2015-08
• Subjects: Medicine -- Periodicals; Medicine -- Periodicals; Médecine -- Périodiques; Geneeskunde; Medicine; Periodicals; Periodicals; 610.5
• DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000001388
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0025-7974

Abstract

<abstract> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec> <title>Abstract</title> <p>Hypertension should be best managed under primary care settings. This study aimed to compare, between Shanghai and Shenzhen, the perceived quality of primary care in terms of accessibility, continuity, co-ordination, and comprehensiveness among hypertensive patients.</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was conducted in Shanghai and Shenzhen, China. Multistage random sampling method was used to select 8 community health centers. Data from primary care users were collected through on-site face-to-face interviews using the primary care assessment tool. Good quality standard was set as a value of 3 for each attribute and a value of 18 for total score.</p> <p>We included 568 patients in Shanghai and 128 patients in Shenzhen. Compared with those in Shenzhen, hypertensive patients in Shanghai reported a higher score in co-ordination of information (3.37 vs 3.66; <italic>P</italic> < 0.001), but lower scores in continuity of care (3.36 vs 3.27; <italic>P</italic> < 0.001), and comprehensiveness-service provision (3.26 vs 2.79; <italic>P</italic> < 0.001). There was no statistically significant difference in total scores between the 2 cities (18.19 vs 18.15). Over 3-quarters of hypertensive patients in both cities reported accessibility (97.2% vs 91.4%) and co-ordination of services (76.1% vs 80.5%) under good quality standard, while <1-quarter of them rated continuity of care (23.6% vs 22.7%), co-ordination of information (4.8% vs 21.1%), and comprehensiveness-service availability (15.1% vs 25.0%) under that standard.</p> <p>Compared with Shenzhen, the perceived quality of primary care for hypertensive patients in Shanghai was better in terms of co-ordination of information, but poorer on continuity of care and comprehensiveness-service provision. Our study suggests that there is room for quality improvement in both cities.</p> </sec> </abstract>