title: Which family physician should I choose? The analytic hierarchy process approach for ranking of criteria in the selection of a family physician.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Choosing the most appropriate family physician (FP) for the individual, plays a fundamental role in primary care. The aim of this study is to determine the selection criteria for the patients in choosing their family doctors and priority ranking of these criteria by using the multi-criteria decision-making method of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was planned and conducted in two phases. In the first phase, factors affecting the patients' decisions were revealed with a qualitative research. In the next phase, the priorities of FP selection criteria were determined by using AHP model. Criteria were compared in pairs. 96 patient were asked to fill the information forms which contains comparison scores in the Family Health Centres.
  
  
  RESULTS
  According to the analysis of focus group discussions FP selection criteria were congregated in to five groups: Individual Characteristics, Patient-Doctor relationship, Professional characteristics, the Setting, and Ethical Characteristics. For each of the 96 participants, comparison matrixes were formed based on the scores of their information forms. Of these, models of only 5 (5.2 %) of the participants were consistent, in other words, they have been able to score consistent ranking. The consistency ratios (CR) were found to be smaller than 0.10. Therefore the comparison matrix of this new model, which was formed based on the medians of scores only given by these 5 participants, was consistent (CR = 0.06 < 0.10). According to comparison results; with a 0.467 value-weight, the most important criterion for choosing a family physician is his/her 'Professional characteristics'.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Selection criteria for choosing a FP were put in a priority order by using AHP model. These criteria can be used as measures for selecting alternative FPs in further researches.
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics/Computer Science, Dokuz Eylul University Faculty of Science, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Emel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kuruoglu
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül Universitesi Tıp Fakültesi Aile Hekimliği, AD, 35340, İnciraltı İzmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Dilek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guldal
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül Universitesi Tıp Fakültesi Aile Hekimliği, AD, 35340, İnciraltı İzmir, Turkey. vildan.mevsim@deu.edu.tr.
authors.forename: Vildan
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mevsim
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül Universitesi Tıp Fakültesi Aile Hekimliği, AD, 35340, İnciraltı İzmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Tolga
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gunvar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000592:standards*; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000592:standards*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D055815:Young Adult