Back to Search
Start Over
Public experiences and perspectives of primary care in Canada: results from a cross-sectional survey.
- Source :
- Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ); 5/21/2024, Vol. 196 Issue 19, pE646-E656, 11p
- Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- Background: Through medicare, residents in Canada are entitled to medically necessary physician services without paying out of pocket, but still many people struggle to access primary care. We conducted a survey to explore people's experience with and priorities for primary care. Methods: We conducted an online, bilingual survey of adults in Canada in fall 2022. We distributed an anonymous link through diverse channels and a closed link to 122 053 people via a national public opinion firm. We weighted completed responses to mirror Canada's population and adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics using regression models. Results: We analyzed 9279 completed surveys (5.9% response rate via closed link). More than one-fifth of respondents (21.8%) reported having no primary care clinician, and among those who did, 34.5% reported getting a same or next-day appointment for urgent issues. Of respondents, 89.4% expressed comfort seeing another team member if their doctor recommended it, but only 35.9%, 9.5%, and 12.4% reported that their practice had a nurse, social worker, or pharmacist, respectively. The primary care attribute that mattered most was having a clinician who "knows me as a person and considers all the factors that affect my health." After we adjusted for respondent characteristics, people in Quebec, the Atlantic region, and British Columbia had lower odds of reporting a primary care clinician than people in Ontario (adjusted odds ratio 0.30, 0.33, and 0.39, respectively; p < 0.001). We also observed large provincial variations in timely access, interprofessional care, and walk-in clinic use. Interpretation: More than 1 in 5 respondents did not have access to primary care, with large variation by province. Reforms should strive to expand access to relationship-based, longitudinal care in a team setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- PRIMARY care
ACCESS to primary care
SOCIAL workers
PUBLIC opinion
ODDS ratio
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Volume :
- 196
- Issue :
- 19
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ)
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 177357728
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.231372