Perceptions regarding the scope of practice of family doctors amongst patients in primary care settings in Nairobi
Date
2018-10
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AOSIS
Abstract
Background: Primary care (PC) is the foundation of the Kenyan health care system, providing
comprehensive care, health promotion and managing all illnesses across the lifecycle. In the
private sector in Nairobi, PC is principally offered by the general practitioners, also known as
family doctors (FDs). The majority have no postgraduate training. Little is known about how
patients perceive their capability.
Aim: To assess patients’ perceptions of the scope of practice of FDs working in private sector
PC clinics in Nairobi and their awareness of the new category of family physicians (FPs) and
the discipline of family medicine.
Setting: Private sector PC clinics in Nairobi.
Methods: A descriptive survey using a structured, self-administered questionnaire. Simple
random sampling was used to recruit 162 patient participants.
Results: Of the participants, 30% knew the difference between FPs and FDs. There was a high
to moderate confidence that FDs could treat common illnesses; provide lifestyle advice; family
planning (66%) and childhood immunisations (64%). In adolescents and adults, low confidence
was expressed in their ability to manage tuberculosis (58%), human immunodeficiency virus
(55%) and cancer (33%). In the elderly, there was low confidence in their ability to manage
depression (55%), anxiety (57%), urinary incontinence (57%) and diabetes (59%). There was
low confidence in their ability to provide antenatal care (55%) and Pap smears (42%).
Conclusion: Patients did not perceive that FDs could offer fully comprehensive PC services.
These perceptions may be addressed by defining the expected package of care, designing a
system that encourages the utilisation of PC and employing FPs.
Description
CITATION: Mohamoud, G. et al. 2018. Perceptions regarding the scope of practice of family doctors amongst patients in primary care settings in Nairobi. African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine, 10(1),a1818, doi:10.4102/phcfm.v10i1.1818.
The original publication is available at https://phcfm.org
The original publication is available at https://phcfm.org
Keywords
Family doctors, Nairobi, Primary care, Kenyan health care, Private sector, General practitioners
Citation
Mohamoud, G. et al. 2018. Perceptions regarding the scope of practice of family doctors amongst patients in primary care settings in Nairobi. African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine, 10(1),a1818, doi:10.4102/phcfm.v10i1.1818.