Table 1.
Descriptive statistics of the study groups.
| Characteristics | Group | Test of differences |
P value | ||||
| E-learning (n=42) |
Pdf article (n=89) |
Control (n=94) |
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| Factor describing primary care facilities | |||||||
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Location (no. of inhabitants), n (%) | ||||||
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<100,000a | 13 (35) | 27 (33) | 26 (39) | χ24=27.4 | <.001 |
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>100,000 | 3 (8) | 27 (33) | 42 (45) |
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Capital city (Warsaw) | 21 (57) | 27 (33) | 14 (15) |
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Organizational structure of facility, n (%) | ||||||
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State owned | 14 (37) | 53 (60) | 65 (69) | χ22=11.7 | .003 |
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Privately owned | 24 (63) | 36 (40) | 29 (31) |
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Visits systemb , n (%) | ||||||
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Numbers | 2 (53) | 20 (23) | 22 (24) | χ24=11.7 | .02 |
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Scheduled time | 32 (84) | 49 (55) | 56 (62) |
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Order of arrival | 4 (11) | 20 (23) | 13 (14) |
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Average time of visit, n (%) | ||||||
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<15 minutes | 17 (49) | 27 (31) | 22 (26) | χ22=6.1 | .048 |
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>15 minutes | 18 (51.4) | 59 (68.6) | 64 (74.4) |
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Average no. of patients per doctor in facility, mean (SD) | 1444 (425) | 1681 (672) | 1754 (791) | B-F2,215=3.33c | .04 | |
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No. of doctors working in facility, mean (SD) | 5.45 (3.12) | 4.79 (2.93) | 5.41 (3.38) | F2,218=1.08 | .34 | |
| Factors describing doctors | |||||||
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Age in years, mean (SD) | 49.56 (11.56) | 49.44 (11.35) | 50.39 (13.16) | F2,218=0.15 | .86 | |
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Sex, n (%) | ||||||
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Female | 36 (86) | 62 (70) | 62 (66) | χ22=5.7 | .06 |
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Male | 6 (14) | 27 (30) | 32 (34) |
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Marital status, n (%) | ||||||
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Single | 4 (10) | 12 (14) | 8 (9) | χ26=3.2 | .79 |
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Married | 33 (79) | 65 (73) | 77 (82) |
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Divorced/widowed | 5 (12) | 12 (14) | 9 (10) |
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Seniority, mean (SD) | 23.90 (12.13) | 23.57 (11.99) | 23.87 (13.15) | F2,220=0.02 | .98 | |
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Hours weekly in facility, mean (SD) | 33.89 (9.48) | 32.72 (10.82) | 31.34 (9.89) | F2,219=0.98 | .38 | |
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Hours weekly overall, mean (SD) | 39.53 (11.01) | 45.36 (15.23) | 41.54 (13.21) | F2,219=3.07 | .048 | |
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Training in geriatricsd , n (%) | ||||||
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None | 28 (67) | 49 (55) | 49 (52) | χ24=6.6 | .16 |
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Single | 12 (29) | 30 (34) | 27 (29) |
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Multiple | 2 (5) | 10 (11) | 18 (13) |
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Percentage of older patientse , n (%) | ||||||
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|
|
<25% | 3 (7) | 14 (16) | 10 (11) | χ26=3.7 | .72 |
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25%-50% | 19 (45) | 32 (36) | 33 (35) |
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51%-75% | 16 (38) | 36 (40) | 40 (43) |
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≥75% | 4 (10) | 7 (8) | 11 (12) |
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Specialization, n (%) | ||||||
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Internal medicine | 15 (37) | 28 (34) | 46 (55) | χ26=11.1 | .09 |
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Family medicine | 15 (37) | 32 (39) | 24 (29) |
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2 specializationsf | 9 (22) | 13 (16) | 9 (11) |
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Others | 2 (5) | 10 (12) | 5 (6) |
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aThis category includes both rural areas and small towns.
bAppointment systems were (1) numbers, which informed patients about their place in a queue to see a doctor but not about the time of their appointment (usually it forced patients to come in advance and wait for a long time not to miss their appointment), (2) scheduled time (the patient was informed about the exact time of their appointment), (3) order of arrival (patients were free to choose the time of their appointment but there was no control over patient flow).
cB-F: Brown-Forsythe test.
dTraining in geriatrics encompassed any form of a postgraduate course.
eDoctors’ ratings of percentage of older patients (age ≥65 years) among their patients last year.
fTwo specializations when at least one was internal medicine or family medicine.