Patient preferences for care by general internists and specialists in the ambulatory setting.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate patients' preferences for care by general internists and specialists for common medical conditions.


METHODS
Telephone interview.


METHODS
A convenience sample of general internal medicine practices at 10 eastern academic medical centers.


METHODS
A probability sample of 314 participants who had at least one visit with their primary care physician during the preceding 2 years.


RESULTS
Items addressed patients' attitudes concerning continuity of care, preferences for care by general internists or specialists for common medical problems, and perceptions about the competency of general internists and specialists to manage these problems. Continuity was important to participants, with 63% reporting they preferred having one doctor. Respondents were willing to wait 3 or 4 days to see their regular doctor (85%) and wanted their doctor to see them in the emergency department (77%) and monitor their care while in the hospital (94%). A majority (>60%) preferred care from their regular doctor for a variety of new conditions. Though respondents valued continuity, 84% felt it was important to be able to seek medical care from any type of physician without a referral, and 74% responded that if they needed to see a specialist, they were willing to pay out-of-pocket to do so. Although most participants (98%) thought their regular doctor was able to take care of usual medical problems, the majority thought that specialists were better able to care for allergies (79%) and better able to prescribe medications for depression (65%) and low-back pain (72%).


CONCLUSIONS
Participants preferred to see their general internist despite their perceptions that specialists were more competent in caring for the conditions we examined. However, they wanted unrestricted access to specialists to supplement care provided by general internists.
Lewis
C L
CL
Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7110, USA. Carmen-Lewis@med.unc.edu
Wickstrom
G C
GC
Kolar
M M
MM
Keyserling
T C
TC
Bognar
B A
BA
Dupre
C T
CT
Hayden
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003657:Decision Making; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013038:Specialization; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires