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The objective of this study was, by means of patient self-report, to measure the provision of preventive care to patients of a sample of Australian general practitioners. Patient-completed questionnaires from a consecutive sample of Australian general practitioners enrolled in the Quality Assurance and Continuing Medical Education Program of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners were used. Patients were attendees at Australian general practices. The main outcome measures included the following: the provision of tetanus immunization within the last 10 years; blood pressure measurement within the last 12 months; cholesterol screening within the past 5 years; provision of adequate information to enable patients to stop smoking if they desired; discussion about the benefits of diet and exercise to enhance life, and about alcohol intake; provision of cervical smears in the past 2 years; provision of adequate instruction in breast self-examination and overall satisfaction with service provision. A total of 12,605 questionnaires from 133 general practices were completed. There was wide variability between practices in the reported provision of preventive care items including an average of 86% (range 36-100) of patients reporting the provision of blood pressure checking in the past 12 months, 62% (range 25-97%) reporting the provision of tetanus immunization in the past 10 years, and 63% (range 10-91%) reporting having had a cervical smear in the past 2 years. Patients who were very satisfied were more likely to have reported that they had received blood pressure measurement in the past 12 months, participated in discussions about the benefits of diet and exercise in enhancing life, and participated in discussions about alcohol intake and provision of adequate instruction in the technique of breast self-examination. Patient self-reporting identified variability between practitioners in the provision of preventive care conforming to accepted guidelines. Patients who reported that they were very satisfied or who regularly attend only one general practice reported the provision of more preventive care than those who were not very satisfied or who regularly visited two or more general practitioners.

Objectives: To develop and explore the use of a patient satisfaction questionnaire based on patient perceptions of items which influence satisfaction and to explore patient and practitioner characteristics which influence the results., Method: Twenty focus groups identified 39 items which were then assembled into a questionnaire which was evaluated by attendees at 133 Australian general practices., Main Outcome Measures: Overall satisfaction with general practitioner services and the appropriateness of the 39 items identified by focus group participants; socio-demographic characteristics of patients and practitioners and the impact of these characteristics on the results; factor analysis of the relationship of the items to each other and to overall satisfaction., Results: Questionnaires were completed by 12,605 patients of 133 general practices. Seventy-three percent of these patients reported they were overall very satisfied with the care they received and 26% were satisfied. There were five individual items for which an average of more than 10% of patients reported they were not satisfied: waiting time at the surgery (18%); ease of obtaining home visits (17%); ease of seeing the doctor out of normal hours (15%); cost of drugs (12%) and facilities for children in the waiting room (10%). Factors which were more likely to result in a report of patients being very satisfied included: patients being older; if patients had visited recently; if they had attended the practice for a long time; if they visited only one general practice and had more consultations in the past 12 months. Patients of solo practitioners were more likely to report they were satisfied with individual items and patients of practices of three or more practitioners were least likely. No significant differences between practices of different sizes in the level of overall satisfaction were detected. Factor analysis identified three major factors which we have described as containing interaction, technical and accessibility items. These three factors explained 44.4% of the variance in results., Conclusion: This project found the items patients identified were similar to those identified by practitioners, and reiterated previous findings that there is substantial variability in the levels of satisfaction reported by patients of Australian general practices.

Objective: To explore whether there are associations between continuity of care and the provision of items of preventive care in Australian general practice., Method: Patient completed questionnaires from a 'consecutive' sample of Australian general practitioners enrolled in the Patient Participation Program of the Quality Assurance and Continuing Medical Education Program of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners., Main Outcome Measures: An association was sought between the length of time patients reported attending their practitioner, whether they regularly attended more than one practice, and whether they were provided with preventive care., Results: Data from 12,605 questionnaires, completed by patients from 133 practices throughout Australia found that patients who reported only visiting one practice on a regular basis were significantly more likely to report the provision of: blood pressure screening within the past 12 months; cholesterol screening in the past 5 years; adequate smoking cessation information if required; to have discussed the benefits of diet and exercise; to have received a cervical smear in the past 2 years; and to have received adequate instruction in the technique of breast self examination. Patients attending the same practices for longer periods were significantly more likely to have received the above items with the exception of adequate information to enable them to stop smoking if they desired; and cervical smears in the past 2 years. Such patients were less likely to report the provision of tetanus immunisation in the past 10 years and cervical smears in the past 2 years., Conclusions: Patients reporting greater continuity of care measured by only consulting at one practice or visiting the practice for a longer time period reported a greater provision of preventive care than patients who did not report these characteristics.