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Table 1 Characteristics of 325 French general practitioners according to frequency of referrals to diabetes specialists

From: Referral reasons of type 2 diabetes patients from general practitioners to diabetes specialists: a cross-sectional observational study

 

Overall (n = 325)

Infrequent referrals

(n = 246)

Frequent referrals

(n = 79)

P-value

GenderMen

121 (37)

97 (39)

24 (30)

0.15

Age: mean ± SD

43 ± 11

42 ± 11

45 ± 11

0.04

Duration of medical practice, in years

8 (3, 18)

7 (3, 17)

10 (4, 20)

0.10

Location of practice: North of Francea

210 (65)

157 (64)

53 (67)

0.60

Social deprivation indexa

0.01 (-0.57, 0.61)

0.05 (− 0.54, 0.63)

− 0.02 (− 0.61, 0.47)

0.43

Location of practice Rural area

177 (54)

142 (58)

35 (44)

0.04

Single physician practice (the GP works alone)

43 (13)

30 (12)

13 (16)

0.33

Travel time from practice to the nearest diabetologist ≥ 30 min

58 (18)

45 (18)

13 (16)

0.71

Membership of a local territorial professional healthcare community (CPTS)

136 (42)

108 (43)

28 (35)

0.19

Membership of a diabetes care network

33 (10)

19 (7.7)

14 (18)

0.01

Collaboration with a certified nurse trained in therapeutic education

97 (30)

68 (28)

29 (37)

0.13

Collaboration with an Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) for the treatment of diabetic patients

16 (4.9)

12 (4.9)

4 (5.1)

0.95

Pay-for-performance score Above primary target value

156 (48)

124 (50)

32 (41)

0.13

Number of patients seen by GP

1107 ± 555

1110 ± 565

1097 ± 524

0.86

Number of patients with chronic diseases

244 ± 166

238 ± 149

258 ± 211

0.36

Percentage of patient with chronic diseasesb

23 ± 11

23 ± 11

23 ± 12

0.82

Ease of access to a diabetes specialist, scored from 0 to 10

5.0 ± 2.5

4.8 ± 2.5

5.6 ± 2.5

0.01

Most frequent type of request: for hospitalization

62 (19)

52 (22)

10 (13)

0.08

The GP has a trusted diabetologist

224 (70)

164 (68)

60 (76)

0,18

Delay of the response from the diabetes specialist: rapid or immediate

237 (74)

175 (73)

62 (78)

0.3

Satisfaction with the management of the diabetes specialist, scored from 0 to 10

7.8 ± 1.8

7.7 ± 1.9

8.1 ± 1.6

0.10

  1. Table Legend: Characteristics of 325 French general practitioners (n (%), mean ± SD, median (Q1, Q3)) according to the frequency of referrals of people with diabetes to diabetes specialists. Frequent referrals: more than one in ten patients in the last year. Infrequent referrals: no referrals or only one in ten patients in the last year
  2. Table footnotes: aVariables obtained from the postal code provided by the physician. Higher values of the socioeconomic deprivation index indicate a larger extent of social deprivation and typically a lower average income
  3. b Summary statistic obtained by averaging the percentages of patients with chronic diseases calculated for each physician, with each percentage given equal weight. As the variable is not weighted, its value can differ from the overall percentage of chronic patients in the sample
  4. APN: Advanced Practice Nurse. GP: General Practitioner. CPTS: a community of different healthcare professionals collaborating on a geographic zone (in French, Communauté Professionnelle Territoriale de Santé)
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BMC Primary Care

ISSN: 2731-4553

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