Behavior of and satisfaction to first medical consultation among community ill residents in Chengdu city during a two-week period

Objective To explore facility selection of and satisfaction to first medical consulation among community ill residents in Chengdu city during a two-week period for guiding residents to select appropriate medical institutions in their first medical consultation.Methods Multistage random sampling was used and 4 201 community residents in Chengdu city were surveyed with a self-designed questionnaire.Results The respondence rate of the survey was 97.26%.Among the responders,the disease prevalence rate was 20.42% and the proportion of seeking medical service among the ill responders was 62.40% within the two weeks.The hospitals most frequently visited hy the ill residents were community or township hospitals(36.88%) and 86.05% of the attendees were satisfied to medical service of the community or township hoopitals.The results of logistic regression analysis showed that compared with secondarily or thirdly selected hospitals,with low income and without hospitalization experience were pro-factors and living in rural area,not knowing community or township hospitals nearby,and not satisfied to medical service were against factors for selecting community or township hospitals.Conclusion The awareness of selecting community or township hospitals for first medical consultation increased among residents in Chengdu city but more effective measures should be taken to promote community or township hospitals being the first medical consultation facility for community residents.