Daily Workload And Service Profile Of Family Physicians In Turkey: A Snapshot Of One-Day Work

Abstract

Objective: The study aims to determine the daily workload and to analyze the content of workload, to describe the service profile of FPs working in primary care in Turkey. Methods: The study design is descriptive and cross-sectional. A total of 28 FPs from 17 different cities were enrolled into the study. Two surveys, one inquiring the demographic properties of FPs participated and a second encounter form with 43 items inquiring all aspects of FPs’ workload were filled by the participants. Results: A total of 1,215 visits were reported. The average daily workload of FPs participating was 45.7± 16.8 visits. 92.5% of all patients were family physicians’ own registered patients while 7.5% of them were guests. A total of 1,610 RFEs were reported. We categorized them as prescription requests (451, 28%), clinical complaints (447, 27.8%), preventive medicine services (436, 27%), administrative reasons (161, %10) and other reasons (115, 7.2%). Essential hypertension and diseases of musculoskeletal system were the most common diagnoses in prescription requests. Sore throat and cough were the top two clinical complaints. Conclusions: FPs in Turkey are under severe pressure. Prescription requests account for an important percentage of this workload. Measures should be taken to lessen this burden.