Gaining information about home visits in primary care: methodological issues from a feasibility study

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Primary Care Medicine
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Home visits are a crucial component of general practice in Germany.
• An aging population and a shortage of general practitioners (GPs) raise questions about care for immobile patients.
• A pilot study was conducted to assess the feasibility of a large-scale documentation study on GPs' home visits.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of a documentation-intensive study on general practitioners' (GPs) home visits.
• To identify challenges and potential improvements for future research on primary care home visits.
• To assess the organizational aspects and content of GPs' home visits for immobile patients.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods design was employed with two study arms.
• The quantitative arm involved participating GPs and documentation of home visits.
• The qualitative arm explored reasons for non-participation among GPs.

Main Results:

• Common reasons for GP non-response included lack of time and interest; monetary incentives were not significant.
• Documentation rates varied, with discrepancies between documented and actual home visits.
• Obtaining patient consent was a major challenge, especially for patients with cognitive deficits.

Conclusions:

• The pilot study provides insights for refining study designs and instruments for future research on GP home visits.
• Improvements in instructions and questionnaires are planned to enhance data reliability.
• Addressing the inclusion of homebound patients unable to provide informed consent is critical for study representativeness.