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[Does patient's gender affect the quality of clinical histories in primary care?]
J L Clúa i Espuny1, J L Piñol i Moreso, J M Pepió i Vilaubi
1Institut Català de la Salut, DAP Tortosa, Tarragona.
Objective:
The objective of this study was to analyse and quantify the effect of patients gender on Primary Care clinical histories (PCCH) of the over-14 population.
Design:
An observational cross-sectional study.
Setting:
Primary Health Care.
Patients And Other Participants:
A total sample of 1,449 PCCH from six Health Districts in Catalonia were evaluated. These districts had a professional staff of 55 doctors, 55 nurses and 30 clerical auxiliaries.
Measurements And Main Results:
Internal audit of the random sample of 1,449 PCCH was carried out to see that they satisfied the following criteria: PCCH belonging to population registered in the District, born before 1980 and who had attended for consultation at least once in the previous five years (between 1990 and 1994). To measure the quality of PCCHs, a questionnaire with 23 structured indicators in three sections was used to collect information on recording of sociodemographic data, administrative details and data concerning health. Higher recording of all items occurred in female users, older users, less time elapsed since previous consultation, and when the town where the PC Centre was located had < 1000 inhabitants.
Conclusions:
The analysis of the results suggests the need to improve the effectiveness of the PCCH as an instrument to achieve equality in individual care.