[Selected results of a study of family practice patient care].

The aim of the present study was to analyse the state of medical care by the family doctor in selected areas of the province Halle in the former GDR (land Sachsen-Anhalt). We questioned physicians on their activities, and patients on their expectations in medical care by the family doctor. Both groups considered the trusting physician-patient relation, long-time medical care by the same doctor, home visits and the attention given to the whole family, as the main characteristics of this medical care. The results show that permanent medical care by the same doctor increased with advanced age, and was at every age higher in women than in men. In about 60% of the patients medical care had been exercised by the same doctor for more than five years. Both physicians and patients valued the reciprocal trustful correlation as the most important feature of medical care by the family doctor. During the study period in 1988/89 about 77% of the 1,238 patients with continual care by the same doctor regarded themselves as well cared for about 67% had complete confidence in their doctor and 66% considered this physician as their family doctor.