Opinions of the citizens of the Czech Republic on selected aspects of the activities of general practitioners – 2021

Overview

Resources: The Czech Medical Society of JEP – the Society of General Practice periodically monitors citizens’ opinions on selected aspects of general practitioner’s activities. This publication follows previous outputs of research carried out between the years 2015 and 2020.

Aim and methods: The aim of this research was to identify Czech citizens’ opinions on some aspects of the work carried out by general practitioners (GPs). The method of conducted interviews between interviewer and respondent (face-to-face) performed by a professional agency was chosen with the aim to representatively research the opinions of Czech citizens. Statistical data was processed by SASD 1.5.8 (Statistical analysis of social data).

Results: In the representative sociological research, 1788 citizens were interviewed. The subjects of the sample were chosen randomly using quota-type selection. The research results are representative of Czech citizens over the age of 15, with respect to gender, age and region. The citizens are by a vast majority satisfied with the care and time invested in their examination by their GPs and nurses. Only a small minority of subjects hold a negative opinion. Compared to the 2015–2020 period, the number of citizens who expressed the highest degree of satisfaction significantly decreased in 2021. It is most likely due to the surgery time cuts during the covid-19 pandemic. Citizens’ satisfaction with the care and time invested by the nurses is higher than the GPs’, there was no significant decrease noticed in nurses’ performance as with GPs’. 83.8% of Czech citizens state that they find e-prescription provided by their GPs fully or mostly satisfactory. Only 8% of respondents state they are somewhat or completely unsatisfactory. Regarding e-sick notes provided by the GP the majority of Czech citizens (69%) find this possibility satisfactory. A vast majority of respondents (38.8%) state that they are partially satisfied with telemedicine though physical presence in the surgery is very important. The main way of distant communication with their GP respondents stated telephone (85.6%). When questioned about the preventive checks a vast majority of citizens (41.1%) undergo the check when invited by the GP surgery, more than ⅓ (34.3%) actively ask themselves for a check up. When questioned about the factors influencing quality of life such as obesity and smoking only 7.7% citizens stated that they find themselves overweight or obese and would appreciate intervention or treatment by their GP covered by the national health insurance, 20.6% of respondents smoke but is not interested in treatment, 3.5% of citizens smoke and would appreciate intervention or treatment by their GP covered by the national health insurance. Self management tools include regular weighting, blood pressure measurement and step measurement. Regular weighting provides 63.4% of respondents, blood pressure check 49.6% respondents and the amount of steps regularly provide 42.2% of respondents.

Keywords:

primary medical care – Telemedicine – general practitioner – e-prescription