Israeli general practitioners' dissatisfaction with their own primary healthcare

Galia Zacay*, Fabienne Hershkowitz Sikron, Anthony David Heymann

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background Many physicians treat themselves despite established guidelines against such practice. Aims To examine whether general practitioners (GPs) are satisfied with their personal primary care and how this could be improved. Methods We sent a questionnaire to GPs in Israel. We examined the gap between preference to use formal medical care and use in practice, satisfaction with physicians' primary healthcare, self-prescribing and ways to improve physician access to care. Results There were 203 respondents (response rate 203/985; 21%). Sixty-one per cent reported not having a GP. Older respondents were less likely to have their own GP. Thirty-seven per cent of physicians reported receiving less formal medical care than they desired. This gap was higher in those reporting self-prescription of benzodiazepines and anti-depressants (P < 0.05) and was significantly associated with dissatisfaction with primary healthcare. Odds for being satisfied with personal care was reduced by more than 85% in GPs who reported receiving less formal medical care than they desired (odds ratio 0.146; 95% confidence interval 0.064-0.333). Conclusions Our findings inform the profile of physician self-treatment and the dissatisfaction associated with it. Dissatisfaction was associated with a gap between desired and actual care rather than with having or not having a personal GP. There was no consensus regarding what would assist physicians to access GPs.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)187-191
Number of pages5
JournalOccupational Medicine
Volume68
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 17 May 2018

Keywords

  • Health service
  • Medical profession
  • Physician
  • Primary healthcare
  • Sick doctors
  • Survey

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