PubMed1996
OBJECTIVE: To carry out a comparative descriptive study of the healthcare activity of an outpatient clinic specialising in "Hearts and Lungs". Unit of analysis: care event. A procedure to construct the events was worked out. DESIGN: A prospective study of the care activity over a year, with a retrospective review at two years to construct the events. SETTING: Torreforta-La Granja Primary Care Centre, Tarragona. PARTICIPANTS: Included 1,312 patients (catchment area of 37,266 people), who consulted the doctor. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: 3,467 attendances were recorded, of which 3,207 were selected, with 1,477 care events being identified on the basis of the information collected from the attendances. Daily average attendances were 13.09 +/- 3.5, by mainly male (56.3%) patients aged 53 +/- 20. Analysis by events showed a low number of visits, with an intensive use of the health resources available in the centre and low use of more complex resources. There was a low use of medical processes per event, with a high level of coverage or extent of these investigations. Hospital contacts per event identified an important amount of complementary activity concerning the emergency services and outclinics. CONCLUSIONS: The comparative analysis makes clear that the records based on attendance over-represent long events and undervalue the extent of investigations.