Barriers to Care for People with Chronic Health Conditions Survey
Patients with chronic medical conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure often follow complex treatment which includes use of drugs, monitoring of their conditions, dietary and lifestyle changes, and making decisions about if and when to seek medical care.
The ability to manage a chronic condition, particularly when living with one or more chronic illness, requires involvement of the patient, the health care system and often other family members or friends in general. Barriers to such care may result in increased medical problems including poor or worsening health or hospitalization or emergency department visits.
Under of the ICDC team grant, a telephone survey exploring the Barriers to Care for People with Chronic Health Conditions (BCPCHC) is being conducted. The BCPCHC survey will be administered on behalf of ICDC in early 2012 by Statistics Canada to 2,400 people with diabetes, high blood pressure, or heart disease from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
The purpose of the survey is to identify personal factors and aspects of the health care system / care delivery that may be a barrier to receiving the best care for your medical conditions. This information will help us develop a better understanding of potential reversible barriers to optimal health for people with chronic illness, and to design ways to overcome these barriers to improve care for patients living with chronic medical conditions.
ICDC PCN STUDY
While Alberta Health and Wellness has made a significant investment in Primary Care Networks (PCNs), little information is available about their effectiveness. Alberta Health and Wellness and Alberta Health Services have identified the impact of PCNs on care of patients with chronic diseases as an area of interest.
We completed a study entitled “An evaluation of Alberta’s primary care networks: Implications for patients with diabetes.” In this study, we used existing laboratory and administrative data to create a novel data set which examined the impact of PCNs on the care and outcomes of patients with diabetes.
For more information on Primary Care Networks, please refer to the Primary Care Initiative website.
