Functional needs: agreement between perception of rural patients and health professionals in China

This study aimed to investigate the common areas of functional needs of patients with different chronic diseases and to compare the level of agreement between patients and doctors, and patients and an occupational therapist, on perceived priority functional goals. A sample of 113 rural patients from Hebei Province attending outpatient neurology, orthopaedic and cancer clinics completed the COOP/WONCA Charts. These charts are a screening tool that assesses limitations in a set of functional domains. The 80 patients who indicated significant functional difficulty on the charts, 11 doctors and one occupational therapist then responded to questionnaires to elicit the perceived priority functional needs. Respondents remained blind to one another's responses. A consulting doctor and the occupational therapist saw each patient's COOP/WONCA Charts before interviewing the patient. Additional questionnaire items and a focus group interview provided data by professionals on health services thought to be beneficial to improve the function of clinic patients. The difference between the mean percentage of agreement on perceived functional difficulty in therapist/patient matches and doctor/patient matches was 18.5% (95% CI for the difference = 12.4% to 24.6%). The therapist on average agreed or matched with patients significantly more often than did doctors (p<0.0001). The discrepancy between the doctor's and patient's perception of priority functional goals was substantial, indicating a need for initiated effort to narrow this gap. The match rate of doctors with patients in choosing priority goals was significantly lower than for the therapist with patients in this study. Doctors expressed a desire for closer involvement in clinics by appropriate rehabilitation staff. This could expedite the process towards the starting level of a patient-centred approach to health care, within the natural context of teamwork, and with little disruption to clinic routines. Replication of this study using a control group would allow direct comparison of patient incidents when the charts are used and when they are not.