Document Type
Journal Article
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Faculty
Faculty of Health, Engineering and Science
School
School of Medical Sciences / Systems and Intervention Research Centre for Health
RAS ID
16058
Abstract
Background: We presented the pattern of health care consumption, and the utilization of available resources by describing the ecology of medical care in Beijing on a monthly basis and by describing the socio-demographic characteristics associated with receipt care in different settings. Methods: A cohort of 6,592 adults, 15 years of age and older were sampled to estimate the number of urbanresident adults per 1,000 who visited a medical facility at least once in a month, by the method of three-stage stratified and cluster random sampling. Separate logistic regression analyses assessed the association between those receiving care in different types of setting and their socio-demographic characteristics. Results: On average per 1,000 adults, 295 had at least one symptom, 217 considered seeking medical care, 173 consulted a physician, 129 visited western medical practitioners, 127 visited a hospital-based outpatient clinic, 78 visited traditional Chinese medical practitioners, 43 visited a primary care physician, 35 received care in an emergency department, 15 were hospitalized. Health care seeking behaviors varied with socio-demographic characteristics, such as gender, age, ethnicity, resident census register, marital status, education, income, and health insurance status. In term of primary care, the gate-keeping and referral roles of Community Health Centers have not yet been fully established in Beijing. Conclusions: This study represents a first attempt to map the medical care ecology of Beijing urban population and provides timely baseline information for health care reform in China.
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0082446
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Shao, S., Zhao, F., Wang, J., Feng, L., Lu, X., Du, J., Yan, Y., Wang, C., Fu, Y., Wu, J., Yu, X., Khoo, K., Wang, Y. , & Wang, W. (2013). The ecology of medical care in Beijing. PLoS ONE, 8(12): e82446. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0082446 Available here