The Evaluation Index of Post Competence of General Practitioners in Less-developed Areas

Abstract

Background Domestic studies on post competency evaluation indexes of general practitioners mainly focus on economically developed areas in the east. While the applicability of existing evaluation indexes of post competency of general practitioners in rural areas or less-developed areas may be insufficient due to unbalanced allocation of medical resources and large disparities in medical levels among different regions in China. Objective To construct an evaluation index system for the post competency of general practitioners and to provide reference for the training, assessment and evaluation of general practitioners in less-developed areas. Methods An evaluation index system for the post competency of general practitioners in less-developed areas was constructed preliminarily through literature research. From January to June of 2021, 18 consultant experts were selected respectively from general practice clinical workers practicing in less-developed areas, general practice/health administration workers in provinces/counties/towns and general practitioners who had participated in the counterpart support in the east-west counterpart support and worked in less developed areas by purposive sampling method. The expert consultation and hierarchical analysis were used to complete the screening of evaluation indexes of post competency of general practitioners and determine the weight of each index in less-developed areas. Results The effective recovery rate of two rounds of expert consultation questionnaires were 100.0%; the familiarity, judgment and authority coefficients were 0.76, 0.84 and 0.80; the Kendall coordination coefficients were 0.24 (χ2=297.543, P<0.001) and 0.26 (χ2=322.083, P<0.001). The evaluation index system for the post competency of general practitioners in less-developed areas was constructed consisting of 4 primary indexes, 20 secondary indexes and 44 tertiary indexes. The weights of primary indexes including "medical service capacity" "public health service capacity" "organizational management and coping ability" and "professionalism" were 0.350 9, 0.109 1, 0.189 1 and 0.350 9, respectively. The top 4 combination weighted indexes in secondary indexes were "professional quality" (0.177 1), "learning and thinking ability" (0.126 5), "communication and coordination in primary care" (0.118 6), "diagnosis and treatment of common diseases" (0.108 9). The top 4 combination weighted indexes in tertiary indexes were "civilized communication and friendship exchange with patients, colleagues and physicians at superior hospitals" (0.118 6), "humanistic care" (0.098 9), "mastering clinical appropriate technology such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), defibrillation and catheterization" (0.088 3), "diagnosis and treatment of common and frequently-occurring diseases" (0.081 7) . Conclusion The evaluation index system for the post competency of general practitioners in less-developed areas constructed in the study have practicability and scientificity, which can provide scientific basis for the evaluation of post competency of general practitioners in less-developed areas.

Keywords

• less-developed areas|general practitioners|post competency|evaluation index|community health services