Categorization of health problems in patients attending Primary Health Centers in Kirkuk city/IRAQ

Abstract

Background: Primary Health Care is defined by the World Health Organization as essential health care made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community by means acceptable to them. Its objective is to deliver integrated health services. The aim of our study is To categorize the problems of people attending to primary health care, how this problems are managed, the satisfaction of patient and to describe experience of referrals from primary health care facilities to Azadi teaching hospital in Kirkuk city. Subjects& methods: This is a facility-based study of the PHCCs in Kirkuk city. carried out during the study period (October to February 2013-2014). the total sample was 300 patients (at different sex and age). The tool used to collect the data was the interviewing sheet. Results & Discussion: The sample was composed of 100 males (33.3%, ) and 200 females (66.7%).The two groups did not differ significantly in age. regarding the marital state (43%) of the patients were married. Regarding to the occupation the majority of the patients (57.3%) were unemployed, (23.7%) were children, (11 %) were students and only (8.3%) worked in government employer. The commonest presenting complaints were cough, chest pain, abdominal pain, vomiting, ophthalmological, dental problems, headache, fever & immunization purposes. Overall there was agreement between the diagnoses of referring health worker and hospital staff. About 42.7 % of patients admitted to PHCs were referred to General hospital & 56.3 % are treated as outpatients& 40 % received medical treatment & the remainder were children for immunization purposes & those who have regular visits for follow up chronic diseases. Conclusions: It is likely that many patients by-pass primary care services because of the poorly available services, investigations, drugs and seniors compared to hospital services. Operational research on the style of referral letters might be of value in minimizing the use of referral systems by healthcare workers. Improve primary health centre facilities, increase number of physicians and increase compliance of patient to PHCs services to increase access to these centers to meet the need of people & to decrease the number of referred cases, so, decrease the load in hospital.