Accepting new patients who require opioids into family practice: Results from the MAAP-NS census survey study

Emily Gard Marshall, Frederick Burge, Richard J. Gibson, Beverley Lawson, Colleen O'Connell

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Acceptance to a family practice is key to access and continuity of care. While Canadian patients increasingly report not being able to acquire acceptance to a family practice, little is known about the association between requiring opioids and acceptance. We aim to determine the proportion of family physicians who would accept new patients who require opioids and describe physician and practice characteristics associated with willingness to accept these patients. Methods: Census telephone survey of family physicians' practices in Nova Scotia, Canada. Measures: physician (i.e., age, sex, years in practice) and practice (i.e., number/type of provider in the practice, care hours/week) characteristics and practice-reported willingness to accept new patients who require opioids. Results: The survey was completed for 587 family physicians (83.7% response rate). 354 (60.3%) were taking new patients unconditionally or with conditions; 326 provided a response to whether they would accept new patients who require opioids; 91 (27.9%) reported they would not accept a new patient who requires opioids. Compared to family physicians who would not accept patients who require opioids, in bivariate analysis, those who would, tended to work in larger practices; had fewer years in practice; are female; and provided more patient care. The relationship to number of providers in the practice, having a nurse, and experience persisted in multivariate analysis. Conclusions: The strongest predictors of willingness to accept patients who require opioids are fewer years in practice (OR = 0.96 [95% CI 0.93, 0.99]) and variables indicating a family physician has support of a larger (OR = 1.19 [95% CI 1.00, 1.42]), interdisciplinary team (e.g., nurses, mental health professionals) (OR = 1.15 [95% CI 1.11, 5.05]). Almost three-quarters (72.1%) of surveyed family physicians would accept patients requiring opioids.

Original languageEnglish
Article number141
JournalBMC Family Practice
Volume20
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 23 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funded by the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation. This funding source had no role in the design and execution of the study, nor did it have any role during analysis, interpretation of the data, or writing of the manuscript.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s).

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Family Practice

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