Factors influencing home visits in Slovenian general practice

Švab, Igor; Kravos, Andrej; Vidmar, Gaj

doi:10.1093/fampra/20.1.58

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Although most international studies reveal higher home visiting rates for experienced GPs [2] in our sample the younger doctors conducted many more house calls than their older colleagues -probably because German practice owners tend to delegate home visits to their vocational trainees. Svab et al (2003) reported a similar trend in the Slovenian primary health care system of young residents losing their interest in home visits after completing their training [9]. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Home visits - central to primary care, tradition or an obligation? A qualitative study

et al. 2011

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BackgroundHome visits are claimed to be a central element of primary care. However, the frequency with which home visits are made is declining both internationally and in Germany despite the increase in the number of chronically ill elderly patients. Given this, the question arises as to how to ensure sufficient primary health care for this vulnerable patient group. The aim of this study was to explore German general practitioners' (GPs) attitudes with regard to the feasibility, burden and outlook of continued home visits in German primary care.MethodsQualitative semi-structured interviews were carried out with 24 GPs from the city of Hannover, Germany, and its rural surroundings. Data was analysed using qualitative content analysis.ResultsThe GPs indicated that they frequently conduct home visits, but not all of them were convinced of their benefit. Most were not really motivated to undertake home visits but some felt obliged to. The basic conditions covering home visits were described as unsatisfactory, in particular with respect to reimbursement and time constraints. House calls for vulnerable, elderly people remained undisputed, whereas visits of a social nature were mostly deleted. Urgent house calls were increasingly delegated to the emergency services. Visits to nursing homes were portrayed as being emotionally distressing. GPs considered good cooperation with nursing staff the key factor to ensure a successful nursing home visit. The GPs wanted to ease their work load while still ensuring quality home care but were unable to suggest how this might be achieved. Better financial compensation was proposed most often. The involvement of specially trained nurses was considered possible, but viewed with resentment.ConclusionsHome visits are still an integral aspect of primary care in Germany and impose a considerable workload on many practices. Though the existing situation was generally perceived as unsatisfactory, German GPs could not envisage alternatives if asked to consider whether the current arrangements were sustainable in the future. To guarantee an unaltered quality of primary home care, German GPs and health care policy makers should actively initiate a debate on the need for and nature of home visits in the future.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Home visits - central to primary care, tradition or an obligation? A qualitative study

et al. 2011

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“…GPs have to pay most of their home visits out of regular office hours, without extra payment, which could be the reason for very small proportion of home visits compared with other countries in Europe [18].…”

Section: Strengths and Weaknesses In Relation To Other Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors related to consultation time: Experience in Slovenia

Šter

Švab

Kalan

2008

Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care

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“…The process of organizing HCS varies among different countries depending on their health systems. However, some challenges show similarities among different settings: such as medically challenging home environments, time constraints, difficulties experienced during consultation and planning of requests (12,17).…”

Section: Comparison With Existing Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…To the best of our knowledge, however, no qualitative studies have examined the experience of HCS delivery in Turkey. Our literature search revealed some quantitative (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16) and qualitative studies (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22) dealing with different aspects of HCS. Several quantitative studies from Turkey are also available (23)(24)(25)(26).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%