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Continuity of care and moving patients.
Jabaaij, L., Schellevis, F. Continuity of care and moving patients. Occhio Clinico: 2006(suppl. 6) 216. Abstract. 12th Regional Conference of the European Society of General Practice/Family Medicine: "Towards medical renaissance bridging the gap between biology and humanities", Florence, Italy on 27-30 August 2006.
For (longitudinal) continuity of care a stable and longlasting relationship with patients is assumed to be a prior condition. But every GP knows that the practice population is not stable. In the Netherlands the turnover rate, i.e. number of newly registered patients plus the number of patients leaving the practice, is 12% of the practice population per year. We found that general practitioners in big cities are confronted with a turnover rate almost twice as high as GPs in rural areas (16% versus 9%). This ifference between urban and rural areas in turnover rate is not caused by differences in natural population changes such as the number of newborn or patients who died. In urban areas people are more inclined to change houses and move away: around 7% of the patient population was registered as a newcomer and a Same percentage left. In rural areas these figures were half of that: a little more than 3% of the practice population left and same percentage of new patices where GPs are confronted with a high patient turnover rate, establishment of a new relationship and laying a new fundament for continuity of care is a continuous challenge. This is a bigger problem in big cities, where the problems of patients are already more complex. Source: Figures originate form the second Dutch National Survey of General Practice (2001). In this study, a representative sample of 104 GP practices with 195 GPs and 400000 patients participated. (aut.ref)
For (longitudinal) continuity of care a stable and longlasting relationship with patients is assumed to be a prior condition. But every GP knows that the practice population is not stable. In the Netherlands the turnover rate, i.e. number of newly registered patients plus the number of patients leaving the practice, is 12% of the practice population per year. We found that general practitioners in big cities are confronted with a turnover rate almost twice as high as GPs in rural areas (16% versus 9%). This ifference between urban and rural areas in turnover rate is not caused by differences in natural population changes such as the number of newborn or patients who died. In urban areas people are more inclined to change houses and move away: around 7% of the patient population was registered as a newcomer and a Same percentage left. In rural areas these figures were half of that: a little more than 3% of the practice population left and same percentage of new patices where GPs are confronted with a high patient turnover rate, establishment of a new relationship and laying a new fundament for continuity of care is a continuous challenge. This is a bigger problem in big cities, where the problems of patients are already more complex. Source: Figures originate form the second Dutch National Survey of General Practice (2001). In this study, a representative sample of 104 GP practices with 195 GPs and 400000 patients participated. (aut.ref)