MEDICAL SERVICE UTILIZATION IN PHU LOC DISTRICT, THUA THIEN HUE PROVINCE

Objectives: 1. To explore the utilization of medical services in Phu Loc District, Thua Thien Hue Province; 2. To examine some related factors to medical services utilization in Phu Loc District, Thua Thien Hue Province. Methods: A cross sectional study using questionnaire interview of 3258 residents in 800 households. Results: There were 352 people got sick during the one month period before interview of whom 95,3% respondents were sick one time and most cases were mild illness (60,5%). Respiratory problems accounted for the largest proportion. Among sick people, 33,8% of them used medical services at Commune Health Center (CHC), 20,2% treated at hospital, 12,8% used private clinic; and self treatment was still high (33,2%). Age group, the perceived serious level of illness, and having health insurance are significantly associated with the medical services utilization. The main reasons for using CHC are having health insurance (83,2%) and that CHC is near their home (75,6%). The major reason for not using CHC is the low quality of medical service at CHC (45,9%). Waiting time, the trust to medical staff, and satisfaction with consultation time are associated with the choice of health facilities. When assessing the quality of primary care of health facilities using the Primary Care Assessment Tools (PCAT), CHC had the highest score in the Comprehensiveness domain and the private clinics achieved the highest score in the Ongoing Care domain.