A nationwide survey on the expectation of public healthcare providers on family medicine specialists in Malaysia - a qualitative analysis of 623 written comments
Objective: To examine the expectation of public healthcare providers/professionals (PHCPs) who are working closely with family medicine specialists (FMSs) at public health clinics. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: This study is part of a larger national study on the perception of the Malaysia...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMJ Publishing Group
2014
|
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36189/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36189/1/36189.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848848262744768512 |
|---|---|
| author | Chew, Boon How Cheong, Ai Theng Ismail, Mastura Hamzah, Zuhra A. Rashid, Mohd Radzniwan Md Yasin, Mazapuspavina Ali, Norsiah |
| author_facet | Chew, Boon How Cheong, Ai Theng Ismail, Mastura Hamzah, Zuhra A. Rashid, Mohd Radzniwan Md Yasin, Mazapuspavina Ali, Norsiah |
| author_sort | Chew, Boon How |
| building | UPM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Objective: To examine the expectation of public healthcare providers/professionals (PHCPs) who are working closely with family medicine specialists (FMSs) at public health clinics. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: This study is part of a larger national study on the perception of the Malaysian public healthcare professionals on FMSs. Participants: PHCPs from three categories of health facilities, namely hospitals, health clinics and health offices. Main outcome measures: Qualitative analysis of written comments of respondents’ expectation of FMSs. Results: The participants’ response rate was 58% (780/1345) with an almost equal proportion from each public healthcare facility. We identified 21 subthemes for the 623 expectation comments. The six emerging themes are (1) need for more FMSs, (2) clinical roles and functions of FMSs, (3) administrative roles of FMSs, (4) contribution to community and public health, (5) attributes improvement and (6) research and audits. FMSs were expected to give attention to clinical duty. Delivering this responsibility with competence included having the latest medical knowledge in their own and others’ medical disciplines, practising evidence-based medicine in prehospital and posthospital care, better supervision of staff and doctors under their care, fostering effective teamwork, communicating more often with hospital specialists and making appropriate referral. Expectations ranged from definite and strong for more FMSs at the health clinics to low expectation for FMSs’ involvement in research; to mal-expectation on FMSs’ involvement in community and public health programmes. Conclusions: There were some remarkable differences in expectations on FMSs from the three different PHCPs. These ranged from being clinically competent and administratively available for patients and staff at the health clinics, to mal-expectations on FMSs to engage in public health affairs. Relevant parties, including FMSs themselves, could take appropriate self-improvement initiatives to enhance public practice of family medicine and patient care. Trial registration number: NMRR ID: 08-12-1167. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T09:31:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | upm-36189 |
| institution | Universiti Putra Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T09:31:43Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | upm-361892016-04-29T07:11:31Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36189/ A nationwide survey on the expectation of public healthcare providers on family medicine specialists in Malaysia - a qualitative analysis of 623 written comments Chew, Boon How Cheong, Ai Theng Ismail, Mastura Hamzah, Zuhra A. Rashid, Mohd Radzniwan Md Yasin, Mazapuspavina Ali, Norsiah Objective: To examine the expectation of public healthcare providers/professionals (PHCPs) who are working closely with family medicine specialists (FMSs) at public health clinics. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: This study is part of a larger national study on the perception of the Malaysian public healthcare professionals on FMSs. Participants: PHCPs from three categories of health facilities, namely hospitals, health clinics and health offices. Main outcome measures: Qualitative analysis of written comments of respondents’ expectation of FMSs. Results: The participants’ response rate was 58% (780/1345) with an almost equal proportion from each public healthcare facility. We identified 21 subthemes for the 623 expectation comments. The six emerging themes are (1) need for more FMSs, (2) clinical roles and functions of FMSs, (3) administrative roles of FMSs, (4) contribution to community and public health, (5) attributes improvement and (6) research and audits. FMSs were expected to give attention to clinical duty. Delivering this responsibility with competence included having the latest medical knowledge in their own and others’ medical disciplines, practising evidence-based medicine in prehospital and posthospital care, better supervision of staff and doctors under their care, fostering effective teamwork, communicating more often with hospital specialists and making appropriate referral. Expectations ranged from definite and strong for more FMSs at the health clinics to low expectation for FMSs’ involvement in research; to mal-expectation on FMSs’ involvement in community and public health programmes. Conclusions: There were some remarkable differences in expectations on FMSs from the three different PHCPs. These ranged from being clinically competent and administratively available for patients and staff at the health clinics, to mal-expectations on FMSs to engage in public health affairs. Relevant parties, including FMSs themselves, could take appropriate self-improvement initiatives to enhance public practice of family medicine and patient care. Trial registration number: NMRR ID: 08-12-1167. BMJ Publishing Group 2014 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36189/1/36189.pdf Chew, Boon How and Cheong, Ai Theng and Ismail, Mastura and Hamzah, Zuhra and A. Rashid, Mohd Radzniwan and Md Yasin, Mazapuspavina and Ali, Norsiah (2014) A nationwide survey on the expectation of public healthcare providers on family medicine specialists in Malaysia - a qualitative analysis of 623 written comments. BMJ Open, 4 (6). art. no. e004645. pp. 1-10. ISSN 2044-6055 http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/4/6/e004645.abstract 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-004645 |
| spellingShingle | Chew, Boon How Cheong, Ai Theng Ismail, Mastura Hamzah, Zuhra A. Rashid, Mohd Radzniwan Md Yasin, Mazapuspavina Ali, Norsiah A nationwide survey on the expectation of public healthcare providers on family medicine specialists in Malaysia - a qualitative analysis of 623 written comments |
| title | A nationwide survey on the expectation of public healthcare providers on family medicine specialists in Malaysia - a qualitative analysis of 623 written comments |
| title_full | A nationwide survey on the expectation of public healthcare providers on family medicine specialists in Malaysia - a qualitative analysis of 623 written comments |
| title_fullStr | A nationwide survey on the expectation of public healthcare providers on family medicine specialists in Malaysia - a qualitative analysis of 623 written comments |
| title_full_unstemmed | A nationwide survey on the expectation of public healthcare providers on family medicine specialists in Malaysia - a qualitative analysis of 623 written comments |
| title_short | A nationwide survey on the expectation of public healthcare providers on family medicine specialists in Malaysia - a qualitative analysis of 623 written comments |
| title_sort | nationwide survey on the expectation of public healthcare providers on family medicine specialists in malaysia - a qualitative analysis of 623 written comments |
| url | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36189/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36189/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36189/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36189/1/36189.pdf |