ArticleCanadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien2012
Does better access to FPs decrease the likelihood of emergency department use? Results from the Primary Care Access Survey.
Article in Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Motives for self-referral to the emergency department: a systematic review of the literature.BMC health services research · 2016Pooled it
- Emergency department visits among First Nations female adults in Alberta: a population-based study.CJEM · 2025Article
- Identifying facilitators and barriers to integrated and equitable care for community-dwelling older adults with high emergency department use from historically marginalized groups.International journal for equity in health · 2023Article
- Improved access to and continuity of primary care after attachment to a family physician: longitudinal cohort study on centralized waiting lists for unattached patients in Quebec, Canada.BMC primary care · 2022Observational
- Are primary care and continuity of care associated with asthma-related acute outcomes amongst children? A retrospective population-based study.BMC primary care · 2022Article
- Difficulties accessing health care services during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada: examining the intersectionality between immigrant status and visible minority status.International journal for equity in health · 2021Article
- The receipt of information by family physicians about their patient's emergency department visits: a record linkage study of electronic medical records to health administrative data.BMC family practice · 2021Article
- Problems in Coordinating and Accessing Primary Care for Attached and Unattached Patients Exacerbated During the COVID-19 Pandemic Year (the PUPPY Study): Protocol for a Longitudinal Mixed Methods Study.JMIR research protocols · 2021Article
- Examining the Association between Community-Level Marginalization and Emergency Room Wait Time in Ontario, Canada.Healthcare policy = Politiques de sante · 2020Article
- Partnering with patients to improve access to primary care.BMJ open quality · 2020Article
- Patient characteristics, triage utilisation, level of care, and outcomes in an unselected adult patient population seen by the emergency medical services: a prospective observational study.BMC emergency medicine · 2020Observational
- Association of Patients' Perception of Primary Care Provider Listening With Emergency Department Use.PRiMER (Leawood, Kan.) · 2020Article
- Area deprivation and attachment to a general practitioner through centralized waiting lists: a cross-sectional study in Quebec, Canada.International journal for equity in health · 2018Article
- Emergency Department Use and Enrollment in a Medical Home Providing After-Hours Care.Annals of family medicine · 2018Article
- Low-acuity presentations to the emergency department: Reasons for and access to other health care providers before presentation.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2018Article
- Alternate Access to Care: A Cross Sectional Survey of Low Acuity Emergency Department Patients.Cureus · 2017Article
- Site of Treatment for Non-Urgent Conditions by Medicare Beneficiaries: Is There a Role for Urgent Care Centers?The American journal of medicine · 2016Article
- Spatial Accessibility to Health Care Services: Identifying under-Serviced Neighbourhoods in Canadian Urban Areas.PloS one · 2016Article
- Article
- Convenience Sampling of Children Presenting to Hospital-Based Outpatient Clinics to Estimate Childhood Obesity Levels in Local Surroundings.American journal of public health · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo determine whether better access to FP services decreases the likelihood of emergency department (ED) use among the Ontario population.
designPopulation-based telephone survey.
settingOntario.
participantsA total of 8502 Ontario residents aged 16 years and older.
main outcome measuresEmergency department use in the 12 months before the survey.
resultsAmong the general population, having a regular FP was associated with having better access to FPs for immediate care (P < .001) but was not associated with a decreased likelihood of ED visits (odds ratio [OR] = 1.49, P = .03). Better actual access to FP services for immediate care was associated with a decreased likelihood of ED use (OR = 0.62, P < .001) among the general population. Among those with chronic diseases, having a regular FP was associated with a decreased likelihood of ED use (OR = 0.47, P = .01). Of the Ontario population, 39.3% wanted to see FPs for immediate care at least once a year; 63.1% of them had seen FPs without difficulties and were significantly less likely to use EDs than those who did not see FPs or had difficulties accessing physicians when needed (OR = 0.62, P < .001). Having a chronic health condition, recent immigrant status, residence in rural and northern parts of Ontario, and lower educational and income levels were significant predictors of a higher likelihood of ED use, independent of access to FPs (P < .05).
conclusionA decreased likelihood of ED use is strongly associated with having a regular FP among those with chronic diseases and with having access to FPs for immediate care among the general population. Further research is needed to understand what accounts for a higher likelihood of ED use among those with regular FPs, new immigrants, residents of northern and rural areas of Ontario, and people with low socioeconomic status when actual access and sociodemographic characteristics have been taken into consideration. More important, this study demonstrates a need of distinguishing between potential and actual access to care, as having a regular FP and having timely and effective access to FP care might mean different things and have different effects on ED use.
Indexed as
Identifiers
23152473PMC3498040W2167896706What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.