Efficacy of Family Physician Program in Providing Primary Care in Talesh, Iran

The healthcare providers are always seeking improvements in the health care delivery system in order to achieve better results.

This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of Family Physician Program (FPP) in providing primary care in Talesh, Iran.

This is a cross-sectional study conducted on 50 physicians working in Talesh city as family physician in 2020, and 384 patients referred to the comprehensive health service centers of Talesh city. The census method was used for selecting physicians, and a simple random method was used for selecting patients. The data collection tool was a researcher-made two-part questionnaire with acceptable validity and reliability. The collected data were analyzed using one-sample t test in IBM SPSS Statistics software.

According to t-test results, access to services (P<0.001) and coordination of care (P= 0.028) in the FPP were significantly at a lower level according to physicians, while the continuity of care (P<0.001) and comprehensiveness of care (P=0.003) were significantly at a higher level. Furthermore, access to finance and location (P<0.001) was significantly at a lower level according to patients, while access to educational services (P<0.001), quality of services (P<0.001), and continuity of health and medical care (P<0.001) in the FPP were significantly at a higher level.

Policy makers and managers should increase the quality of services in the FPP for patients by maintaining and developing access to primary care and educational services to increase their satisfaction.