Impact of the primary care residents on the productivity of the ambulatory health centres in Portugal: a cross-sectional study

Autores da FMUP

• Paulo Alexandre Azevedo Pereira Santos

  Autor

Participantes de fora da FMUP

• Reis, I
• Envia, G

Unidades de investigação

• Laboratório Associado RISE- Rede de Investigação em Saúde

  

  Investigador

  Fernando Carlos De Landér Schmitt

• Medicina da Comunidade, Informação e Decisão em Saúde

• RISE-Health

  

  Investigador

  Fernando Carlos De Landér Schmitt

Abstract

Background The presence of residents in Primary Care health centres may influence their operational results. Aim To examine the relationship between the presence of residents and the results of the evaluation in Portuguese Primary Care Health Centres. Methods We conduct a cross-sectional study, comparing the results achieved by the mainland Portuguese Primary Care Health Centres measured by the Global Performance Index (indice de desempenho global - IDG) by the presence of General Family Medicine residents in training. Analysis took into consideration the distribution by region and typology of the health centres. Results We evaluated 906 units, 55.7% involved in the training of General Family Medicine residence. The presence of residents was associated with higher Global Performance Index values (77.3 vs 57.6; p < 0.001). The higher difference was found in the less developed Personalized Health Care Units and in the region of Lisbon and Tagus Valley. Conclusion The presence of residents in training is a contributing factor in the productivity of the Primary Health Care facilities. It may model the asymmetry in the performance of Portuguese Health Centres.

Keywords

• Internship and Residency; Health Care Evaluation Mechanisms; Primary Health Care; Family practice