Patient's experience as a tool in analyzing primary care in Catalonia.

Abstract

Introduction: Primary health care is essential in a well-designed health system. A way of approaching the quality of an institution or service is evaluating different aspects like accessibility, treatment, satisfaction, and efficiency. The COVID-19 pandemic caused substantial disruptions in health systems. The present work focused on assessing the evolution of the experience of patients. It analyzed its relationship with various factors of the centers and the professionals' quality of life.

Methods: Retrospective quantitative study through a survey carried out in Catalonia evaluating the experience of users in relation to primary health care services. Results from years 2015, 2018, 2021 and 2022 are included in the study.

Results: Users from 370 centers were included in the study. The highest scores were registered in dimensions as environment and information (more than 90%), while accessibility was the worst scored dimension (mean 65.19). Global satisfaction scores were significantly higher in 2015 and 2018 and dropped the following years showing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemics.

Conclusion: The evolution of the patient experience in Catalonia shows a progressive decrease from the first edition in 2015 to the most recent edition in 2022, aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, all the characteristics of primary care were affected, and they are beginning to recover. The resilience that primary care has shown during the pandemic contrasts with a downward valuation of the experience of patients who have used it.