[Factors which affect the completion of the static register in primary care clinical notes].

Objective: We set out to analyse factors which might affect the completion of the "static" register in the Primary Care clinical notes.
Design: Crossover and observation study with a control of the confusion in data analysis.
Setting: Albaycín Health Centre (Granada).
Patients and Other Participants: A random sample of 428 sets of Primary Care clinical notes.
Measurements and Main Results: The "static" register showed over 50% observance in the sections on case history, allergies, tobacco and alcohol; whereas in housing (42%) and diet and physical activity (25%), the observance diminished until reaching its lowest level in counter-indicated medicines, anti-tetanus vaccination, a vaccine biography and family notes (< 10%). Age and gender variables showed virtually no association with the completion of the register. The static register was significantly better for husbands/wives as against children, for patients included in health programmes, for those included in adult rather than other types of programme, for those with smaller-sized families, for patients who used the Centre more and also for three of the doctors as against a fourth. Finally we constructed an overall indicator of the static register (OISR) which was submitted to a process of internal validation and was object of a multiple linear regression model which explained 51.3% of the variability.
Conclusions: We underline the need to go deeper into those factors affecting the register as a first step towards understanding its completion. In this way we will find criteria for improving it or modifying the organisation of its observance and/or format. We discussed a method of overall indicators for tackling such a problematic.