The Effect of The Primary Care Services on The Intensity of Emergency Care Admissions to Public Hospitals in Turkey: An Ecological Study

Abstract

Purpose: Effective primary healthcare services may prevent unnecessary admissions to emergency care which help efficient operation in theemergency care units. The aim of this study is to evaluate the association between primary healthcare services and number of emergencyservice admission per person in public hospitals in 2013 in Turkey.Methods: This ecological study analysed data which data of 81 administrative regions. The data were obtained from Public HospitalAssociations-2014 and Ministry of Health Annual Statistics 2013 Reports.Results: The number of emergency service admission has a negative weak correlation with the number of individuals registered for eachprimary care physician (r=-0.228, p=0.040). There was a negative weak significant correlation for the regions with large population (r=-0.311,p=0.048). When the populations of the cities were divided into two according to their size, no significant relationship was identified betweenthe number of people per family physician and emergency service admission per person in both small and big cities (p>0.05). There was nosignificant correlation between the number of primary care examinations per person and the number of emergency service admission perperson in all cities and small ones (p>0.05).Conclusion: In contrary to expectations, primary care services in Turkey is far from decreasing emergency service admissions. Reinforcement ofprimary care and implementation of an efficient referral system should be considered for better use of health care resources.