Abstract
We present a profile of the people who use ambulatory services, their reasons, the settings, and at what cost, for a community probability sample of 2,147 adults. The panel design was based upon two interviews four weeks apart; 37% of the sample (804 persons) recalled one or more visits to an ambulatory care setting in the previous four weeks. Symptoms of an illness were responsible for more than 75% of these visits; a physician was seen at 88% of visits, and the most frequent setting visited was the private practice office (91%). Although only a small proportion of the total number were visits to a nurse or physician's assistant, such visits were more convenient in terms of travel and waiting time, and the charges were only half those of the physician visits. There were also differences in visit charges for the general practitioners as compared with specialists.
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References
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Additional information
Dr. Daly is a medical student at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514. Dr. Hulka is Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina. The project upon which this publication is based was performed pursuant to grant HS00026-05 from the National Center for Health Services Research to the Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina. Please send reprint requests to Dr. Hulka.
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Daly, M., Hulka, B. Ambulatory care in one community. J Community Health 3, 44–53 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01319142
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01319142