Motivation for the choice of a general practitioner--attitudes of practitioners and patients

The aim of this study was to find out if any significant changes occurred after introducing, the free choice of a general practitioner (GP) into primary health care. The determinants of patients' choice and GP's attitudes regarding this matter were tested. A survey was conducted in 1992 by distributing questionnaires to 71 GP's and 292 patients who chose these GPs. The questionnaires were composed selectively for GPs and patients, and they all answered them anonymously. The group of GPs consisted of 37 (52.1%) GPs with vocational training and of 31 (43.7%) GPs without vocational training. The patients evaluated the GPs' characteristics as very important in choosing a particular GP. Of medium importance were the surgery characteristics (where it was situated, work organization, equipment), and recommendations were the least important. Most frequently, the patients chose a particular GP because he was already the GP of one of the family members. The GPs assessed the family to be the most important determinant for a patient to choose a particular GP. Surgery characteristics (distance and work organization) were evaluated as being of medium importance. The recommendations of a friend were of medium importance, and the recommendations of medical staff were not important, according to the opinion of the surveyed GPs. The only occurrence detected in the survey was that of a "return" phenomenon, in which patients returned to their old GPs, which was a direct consequence of the implementation of the free choice principle into health care practice. The results of this study match the results of similar studies already published, and they are argumented theoretically.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)