Indonesian primary care physicians profile in 2011: Did practicing hours and conversion program for family medicine differentiate their services and continuing medical education activities?

Abstract

BackgroundIn Indonesia, Family Medicine as a discipline is being developed through short courses since 12 years ago. A conversion program to become Family Physicians has been introduced recently. Among the 70,000 primary care physicians there are variety of practitioners, from new interns who start general practice to senior general practitioners. This study aims to describe the current Indonesian Primary Care Physicians (PCPs) profile which includes services provided and facilities as well as comparing the profile according to participation in the conversion program and practice hours.MethodsA survey was carried out by using pre-tested, semi-structured and self-administered questionnaire among Indonesian primary care physicians (PCPs) who attended ASEAN Regional Primary Care Conference in Jakarta, November 2011. The survey elicited information regarding their practice environment, services provided, equipment, investigations provided, procedures, facilities and continuing medical education (CME) activities.ResultsOut of 240 PCPs participated, 65.4% (157/240) of them were family physicians and 67.1% (161/240) of them were full time practitioners (practice > 30 hours per week). Services like body mass index (BMI) measurement, substance abuse program, respiratory function test, mental health assessment, and cardiovascular assessment were provided by less than 50% of the PCPs as well as some investigations like electrocardiograph (ECG), proctoscopy, ultrasound, visual examination and funduscopy. Family Physicians significantly provided more house call services (77% vs 63%; p = 0.01), than those who are not. No other significant difference was found in the practice of the family physicians compare to non-family physicians.ConclusionsThe Indonesian PCPs were lacking in the provision of some particular medical procedures, management and follows up of acute and chronic conditions, and preventive medicine and health education. Improvement of primary health care has been seen globally as necessary effort in health systems reform and this information could provide guidance toward the efforts to improve the quality of primary care physicians in Indonesia.

Exploring general practitioners’ perceptions about the primary care gatekeeper role in Indonesia

“…A study from the perspective of NHI beneficiaries showed that patients perceived gatekeepers as barriers to accessing advanced healthcare services [ 7 ]. Most studies of GPs have focused on their technical competence as primary care physicians and did not specifically assess their gatekeeper role [ 8 – 10 ]. Studies in other countries have found that the gatekeeper role was not always optimally carried out in primary care settings and that this was likely attributable to GP behaviour [ 11 – 13 ].…”

Health Services Quality Between Hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus Patients in Community Health Services in the Sleman District, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

“…However, the home visit program was not implemented as comprehensively as the others. Several problems are caused by many patients that visit community health services (CHSs) every day, so that the doctor does not have much time to visit patients at home; communitybased programs in CHSs were abundant, such that as the doctor focuses on those programs, there is a lack of management and follow up of patients with acute or chronic disease (13) . On the gap analysis that had been made, almost all diabetes and hypertension patients were not satisfied with the PROLANIS program, yet the assurance dimension was slightly qualified than others.…”

Assessment of Dietary and Exercise Behavior of aging Muslims in Thailand

“…They included: personal hygiene, dietary measures such as the restriction in eating specific ingredients (e.g., pork and its byproducts, and drinking alcohol), and the avoidance of addictive habits such as smoking tobacco or over-consumption of food (Nayer, 2008).Most of primary health cares were lacking in the provision of some particular medical procedures, management and follows up of acute and chronic conditions, and preventive medicine and health education. Improvement of primary health care has been seen globally as necessary effort in health systems reform and this information could provide guidance toward the efforts to improve the quality of primary care (Widyahening, et al, 2014).…”