BMC Family Practice
Volume 15, Issue 1, 2014

Comparison of perceived quality amongst migrant and local patients using primary health care delivered by community health centres in Shenzhen, China (Article) (Open Access)

Li H. , Chung R.Y.-N. , Wei X.* , Mou J. , Wong S.Y.-S. , Wong M.C.-S. , Zhang D. , Zhang Y. , Griffiths S.
  • a School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
  • b School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
  • c School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
  • d Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
  • e School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
  • f School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
  • g Commission of Health, Population and Family Planning, Shenzhen, China
  • h Commission of Health, Population and Family Planning, Shenzhen, China
  • i School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Abstract

Background: Providing good quality primary health care to all inhabitants is one of the Chinese Government's health care objectives. However, information is scarce regarding the difference in quality of primary health care delivered to migrants and local residents respectively. This study aimed to compare patients' perceptions of quality of primary health care between migrants and local patients, and their willingness to use and recommend primary health care to others. Methods. A cross-sectional survey was conducted. 787 patients in total were chosen from four randomly drawn Community Health Centers (CHCs) for interviews. Results: Local residents scored higher than migrants in terms of their satisfaction with types of drugs available (3.62 vs. 3.45, p = 0.035), attitude of health workers (4.41 vs. 4.14, p = 0.042) and waiting time (4.30 vs. 3.86, p < 0.001). Even though there was no significant difference in overall satisfaction between local residents and migrants (4.16 vs. 3.91, p = 0.159), migrants were more likely to utilize primary health care as the first choice for their usual health problems (94.1% vs. 87.1%, p = 0.032), while local residents were more inclined to recommend Traditional Chinese Medicine to others (65.6% vs. 56.6%, p = 0.026). Conclusions: Quality of primary health care given to migrants is less satisfactory than to local residents in terms of attitude of health workers and waiting time. Our study suggests quality of care could be improved through extending opening hours of CHCs and strengthening professional ethics education. Considering CHCs as the first choice by migrants might be due to their health insurance scheme, while locals' recommendations for traditional Chinese medicine were possibly because of cultural differences. © 2014 Li et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Author Keywords

Migration Quality of care Primary health care Patient satisfaction

Index Keywords

hospital admission China multicenter study clinical trial human comparative study health personnel attitude Cross-Sectional Studies interview Attitude of Health Personnel Community Health Centers cross-sectional study Humans Waiting Lists Interviews as Topic male female standards migration health care quality Quality of Health Care health center Transients and Migrants Health Services Accessibility primary health care health care delivery
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84900429788&doi=10.1186%2f1471-2296-15-76&partnerID=40&md5=fe0a85c137205cbe56fc5ce66fbd709a
DOI: 10.1186/1471-2296-15-76
ISSN: 14712296
Cited by: 20
Original Language: English