Authors: Dankner, Rachel¹; Rieck, Jonathan²; Bentacur, Ariel G.³; Dayan, Yaron Bar⁴; Shahar, Amir³

Source: Military Medicine, Volume 172, Number 1, January 2007 , pp. 75-78(4)

Publisher: AMSUS - Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

Abstract:

Objectives: To determine whether outsourcing of medical consulting services could improve the quality of medical treatment in military primary care clinics. Methods: Data were collected prospectively over 2 months in two regular army clinics manned by ordinary army doctors and in two intervention clinics also staffed with senior civilian doctors. The causes for doctor visits, diagnoses, and other patient data were collected. Results: Information was recorded from 4,970 soldier visits in the four clinics. Although a prescription of rest days was similar in both types of clinics, the level of tertiary referrals was lower by one-third in the intervention clinics compared to the regular clinics. Surrogate markers for quality of care, such as increased use of planned follow-up and reduced antibiotic use, were significantly better in the intervention clinics, and so was overall patient satisfaction. Conclusions: Integration of specialist civilian physicians in the military primary care system is highly beneficial and provides better care and saves costs.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: The Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, Tel-Hashomer, 52621 Israel. 2: Department of Emergency Medicine, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, 52621 Israel. 3: Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, 69978 Israel. 4: The Medical Corps, Israeli Defense Force, Ramat Gan, Israel.

Publication date: 2007-01-01

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• Military Medicine is the Association's official monthly journal. The objective of the Journal is to promote awareness of Federal medicine by providing a forum for responsible discussion of common ideas and problems relevant to Federal healthcare. Its mission is: To increase healthcare education by providing scientific and other information to its readers; to facilitate communication; and to offer a prestige publication for members' writings.
  
  Military Medicine's 5-year Impact Factor: 1.061
  
  
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