title: [Reasons for turning to healthcare services outside of own area of residence: a study among patients of the AV1 Local Health Unit in Italy].
abstract: In this study, 552 patients from the AV-1 Local Health Unit, who accessed healthcare services outside of their own area or region of residence ("intra- and extra-regional mobility") were interviewed by their general practitioner. The aim was to describe the healthcare "mobility" phenomenon and the reasons patient resort to it. Most cases involve patients who turn to healthcare services outside their local area but within their own region of residence (intraregional mobility). On the other hand cases that involved "extraregional mobility", that is involved patients who accessed healthcare services outside their own region of residence , occurred in Basilicata, Puglia, Emilia Romagna and Lombardia. Reasons given by patients for this choice are, in order of importance: prestige of a specific hospital or hospital department, trusted physician working in a given hospital, disease severity, specialist advice, reduced waiting times, friends' or relatives' suggestions, better hospital services, lack of trust in healthcare services provided locally, advice given by general practitioner.
authors.affiliation: Dip. di Medicina Pubblica, Clinica e Preventiva, Facoltà di Medicina, II Università di Napoli. Francesco.Attena@unina2.it
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Attena
authors.forename: M N V
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Ferrante
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: D'Antonio
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Agozzino
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004493:Education; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014850:Waiting Lists