Association between characteristics of practices and overall prevention score
| Characteristic | β estimate for effect on overall prevention score* (95% CI) |
|---|---|
| Patient profile | |
| Age (per additional year) | −0.6 (−0.7 to −0.5)† |
| Female (v. male) | 24.4 (21.5 to 27.3)† |
| Insured in Ontario (v. not insured) | 11.7 (−1.5 to 24.9) |
| > 1 visit in previous year (v. 1 or no visits) | 8.3 (4.6 to 12.0)† |
| Chronic diseases | |
| No. of chronic diseases per patient (per additional disease) | −8.5 (−10.2 to −6.8)† |
| Hypertension (v. no hypertension) | −14.0 (−17.0 to −11.0)† |
| Diabetes mellitus (v. no diabetes) | −10.6 (−15.1 to −6.1)† |
| Coronary artery disease (v. no coronary artery disease) | −14.4 (−19.3 to −9.5)† |
| Congestive heart failure (v. no congestive heart failure) | −13.6 (−23.7 to −3.6)‡ |
| ≥ 1 chronic disease (v. no chronic disease) | −15.9 (−18.7 to −13.0)† |
| Contextual factor | |
| < 10 km to hospital (v. greater distance) | 2.4 (−4.5 to 9.2) |
| Rurality index ≥ 4 (v. lower index) | −7.1 (−12.8 to −1.3)§ |
| Family physician profile | |
| No. of years since graduation (per additional year) | −0.43 (−0.74 to −0.12)‡ |
| Presence of ≥ 1 female family physician (v. no female physicians) | 14.8 (10.2 to 19.4)† |
| Foreign trained (v. trained in Canada) | 0.8 (−11.1 to 12.8) |
| College of Family Physicians of Canada certification (v. no certification) | −1.8 (−8.8 to 5.2) |
| Organizational structure | |
| No. of nurses per FTE family physician (per additional nurse) | −0.2 (−6.9 to 6.6) |
| Panel size < 1600 patients per FTE family physician (v. larger panel) | 9.0 (4.0 to 14.1)† |
| Booking interval for routine visit, min (per additional minute) | 0.7 (0.3 to 1.1)† |
| Staffing | |
| Solo practice (v. group practice) | −10.6 (−16.4 to −4.8)‡ |
| Presence of nurse-practitioner(s) (v. no nurse-practitioner) | 5.6 (0.4 to 10.9)§ |
| No. of nurses (per additional nurse) | 1.0 (−0.5 to 2.4) |
| Information technology | |
| Electronic health records (v. paper files) | 4.9 (−0.5 to 10.3) |
| Electronic system for patient scheduling (v. no such system) | 7.6 (1.7 to 13.5)§ |
| Electronic reminder system for recommended patient care (e.g., screening) (v. no such system) | 3.9 (−1.8 to 9.6) |
| Electronic interface to external laboratory/diagnostic imaging (v. no such interface) | 5.9 (0.7 to 11.3)§ |
Note: CI = confidence interval, FTE = full-time equivalent.
↵* The β estimates were derived from the multilevel linear regression analyses to evaluate the bivariate relation between each of the characteristics listed and the overall prevention score. For example, the prevention score (out of 100) for women was 24.4 higher than the score for men on average, whereas older individuals had lower prevention scores (by 0.6 for each additional year of age).
↵† p < 0.001; χ2 or F test (ANOVA), as appropriate.
↵‡ p < 0.01; χ2 or F test (ANOVA), as appropriate.
↵§ p < 0.05; χ2 or F test (ANOVA), as appropriate.