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Ambulatory Care Visits to Pediatricians in Taiwan: A Nationwide Analysis
Ling-Yu Yang1,2, An-Min Lynn3, Tzeng-Ji Chen4,5
1Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, No. 155, Section 2, Linong Street, Taipei 112, Taiwan. yangly@vghtpe.gov.tw.
Insights
Pediatrician practice patterns reveal surprising trends: only 69.3% of visits were for children, with respiratory diseases being most common. Male physicians aged 40-49 dominated services, highlighting areas for health policy consideration.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Health Services Research
- Public Health
Background:
- Pediatricians are crucial for child development, yet their practice patterns are understudied.
- Understanding pediatrician practice is essential for effective healthcare delivery and policy.
- Previous research has not comprehensively analyzed nationwide pediatrician practice profiles.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the nationwide practice patterns of pediatricians in Taiwan.
- To investigate the demographic characteristics of patients visiting pediatricians.
- To identify common diagnoses and prescriptions in pediatric ambulatory care.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan for data.
- Randomly sampled 60,717 ambulatory visits from over 309 million records in 2012.
- Analyzed patient demographics, pediatrician characteristics, diagnoses, and prescriptions.
Main Results:
- Pediatricians handled 9.8% of all ambulatory visits.
- Only 69.3% of patients seen by pediatricians were children or adolescents.
- Male pediatricians (80.5%) aged 40-49 were the primary providers; respiratory diseases were the most frequent diagnosis (64.7%).
Conclusions:
- Pediatrician practice patterns deviate from expectations, with a significant proportion of non-pediatric patients.
- Findings underscore the need for policy discussions regarding pediatrician scope of practice and resource allocation.
- This study provides critical data for evidence-based health policy development in pediatric care.
Abstract:
Pediatricians play a key role in the healthy development of children. Nevertheless, the practice patterns of pediatricians have seldom been investigated. The current study analyzed the nationwide profiles of ambulatory visits to pediatricians in Taiwan, using the National Health Insurance Research Database. From a dataset that was randomly sampled one out of every 500 records among a total of 309,880,000 visits in 2012 in the country, 9.8% (n = 60,717) of the visits were found paid to pediatricians. Children and adolescents accounted for only 69.3% of the visits to pediatricians. Male pediatricians provided 80.5% of the services and the main workforces were those aged 40-49 years. The most frequent diagnoses were respiratory tract diseases (64.7%) and anti-histamine agents were prescribed in 48.8% of the visits to pediatricians. Our detailed results could contribute to evidence-based discussions on health policymaking.
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