Utilizing Primary Care Personnel Effectively
Author Information
Author(s): Hysong Sylvia J, Best Richard G, Moore Frank I
Primary Institution: Houston Center for Quality of Care & Utilization Studies, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center
Hypothesis
Primary care tasks will not exceed moderate levels of complexity.
Conclusion
Primary care personnel are not being utilized to the extent of their training, as many tasks could be performed by less trained personnel.
Supporting Evidence
- 80% of primary care tasks were rated at or below the mid-scale value across all ten scales.
- Service delivery tasks received higher complexity ratings than administrative and logistic support tasks.
- Tasks performed by more highly trained job titles received higher ratings on complexity scales than those performed by lower trained job titles.
Takeaway
Doctors and nurses are doing a lot of work that could be done by less trained people, which means they aren't using their skills as well as they could.
Methodology
Focus groups and surveys were conducted with primary care personnel to generate and validate task statements describing their work.
Potential Biases
Potential bias towards service delivery tasks due to the exclusion of supervisors from focus groups.
Limitations
The study was limited by the small number of facilities and the exclusion of supervisors from focus groups, which may have biased the results.
Participant Demographics
Participants included 77 primary care personnel from six job titles across six VA medical centers.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.05
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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