Can medical assistants help improve family medicine practices in Croatia?

To evaluate whether adding a medical assistant (MA) during team substitutions improves workload, access to care, preventive activities, and staff-reported working conditions in Zagreb family medicine practices.

This case-control study involved 60 family medicine practices: 30 with an integrated MA during summer vacation team substitutions and 30 controls. Patient contacts, task distribution, and health care professionals' feedback were assessed. The MAs involved were medical or nursing students in their final years, who undertook non-medical tasks under supervision by health care staff.

Teams with an MA demonstrated a significant 10.55% increase in total patient contacts, responded to significantly more patient emails and phone calls, and performed significantly more preventive and chronic disease panels. Furthermore, MAs in these teams resolved up to 39% of consultations without the need for patients to directly contact health personnel. Healthcare professionals in these teams reported improved job satisfaction, reduced work-related stress, and better overall working conditions than the control group.

Integrating an MA during team substitutions is a promising strategy for enhancing operational efficiency and improving health care standards in family medicine practices. MAs have the potential to address administrative challenges and promote patient-centered care.