Assessing the Strengths & Weaknesses of Family Physician Program

This study was carried out to evaluate the family physicians program (strengths and weaknesses) in Maragheh. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the study population included 375 under care people, family physicians, health system managers and staffs from Rural Health Centers in Maragheh. Data collection instruments were questionnaire and checklist which have already been confirmed for reliability& validity. SPSS software was used for date analysis. About %97 of participants had awareness about family physician implementation; 97/6% used family physician services and 96/8 had health insurance. The major strengths of family physician program were: developing the health files for all people, improving prenatal and child care, increasing easy access to physician and medicine, and decreasing health expenditure for people. However, the major weaknesses were: increasing health houses customers, lack of job security and delay in salary payment for family physician team members, and limited availability of physician in health houses. The study results imply some suggestions that can solve family physician weaknesses, improve quality of delivered care, and increase customer’s satisfaction: 1. developing electronic health files for family physician clients. 2. Motivating and briefing specialists on the manners of dealing with referred patients and giving appropriate feedback. 3. Revising and redefining the target population. 4. Solving financial problems of family physician team members.