Medical and socio-demographic characteristics associated with patient-perceived continuity of primary care: A cross-sectional survey in Hangzhou, China.

BACKGROUND: This study measured the perceived continuity of general practitioner (GP) care from the patient's perspective and identified the associated factors.

METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was carried out on 624 patients in community health care centres in Hangzhou, China. A self-designed Likert scale was used to measure patients' perceptions on informational, managerial, and relational continuity of GP care. An average score for three types of continuity ranging from 0 to 100 was calculated. Linear regression models were developed to determine the factors influencing continuity.

RESULTS: Average rating scores of 57.73 (±15.31), 50.74 (±17.18), 61.61 (±18.07), and 63.57 (±17.40) were found for total, informational, managerial, and relational continuity of care, respectively. Older patients reported a more positive rating on all types of continuity. Income was negatively associated with managerial continuity. The factors affecting informational, relational, and total continuities included chronic diseases, walking distance to nearest community health centres, signing a contract with a GP, and knowing the names of contracted GPs.

CONCLUSION: Patients' perception of continuity of GP care remains at a low level, especially for informational continuity. The varied association between continuity of care and identified factors suggests that targeted actions should be considered for improving the quality of GP services.