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Operational Definitions of Attributes of Primary Health Care: Consensus Among Canadian Experts

¹ Département des Sciences de la Santé Communautaire, Université de Sherbrooke, Longueuil, Québec
² Department of Family Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
³ Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec, Québec City, Québec
⁴ Department de Médicine Familiale, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Québec
⁵ Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Jeannie Haggerty, PhD, Centre de Recherche, Hôpital Charles LeMoyne, Université de Sherbrooke, Complexe St-Charles, Bureau 354, Tour Est, 1111, Rue St-Charles Ouest, Longueuil, Québec J4K 5G4, Jeannie.Haggerty{at}usherbrooke.ca

PURPOSE In 2004, we undertook a consultation with Canadian primary health care experts to define the attributes that should be evaluated in predominant and proposed models of primary health care in the Canadian context.

METHOD Twenty persons considered to be experts in primary health care or recommended by at least 2 peers responded to an electronic Delphi process. The expert group was balanced between clinicians (principally family physicians and nurses), academics, and decision makers from all regions in Canada. In 4 iterative rounds, participants were asked to propose and modify operational definitions. Each round incorporated the feedback from the previous round until consensus was achieved on most attributes, with a final consensus process in a face-to-face meeting with some of the experts.

RESULTS Operational definitions were developed and are proposed for 25 attributes; only 5 rate as specific to primary care. Consensus on some was achieved early (relational continuity, coordination-continuity, family-centeredness, advocacy, cultural sensitivity, clinical information management, and quality improvement process). The definitions of other attributes were refined over time to increase their precision and reduce overlap between concepts (accessibility, quality of care, interpersonal communication, community orientation, comprehensiveness, multidisciplinary team, responsiveness, integration).

CONCLUSION This description of primary care attributes in measurable terms provides an evaluation lexicon to assess initiatives to renew primary health care and serves as a guide for instrument selection.

Key Words: Primary health care • delivery of health care • outcome and process assessment (health care), terminology • Delphi technique

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