Status of capacity for chronic disease management among medical staff in grass-roots heatlth care institutions in Hunan province

Objective To explore the status quo of capacity for chronic disease management among medical staff in grass-roots heatlth care institutions in Hunan province.Methods Using multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling,we surveyed medical staff in grass-roots heatlth care institutions in 5 municipalities of Hunan province with Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (ACIC).Results For the medical staff,the average total ACIC score (standard deviation) was 7.14±1.84 and the average dimension scores were 5.29±1.63 for self-management support,6.92±2.25 for decision-making support,7.31±2.09 for component integration,7.35±1.99 for health information system,7.36±2.29 for community communication,7.49±2.12 for service system design,and 7.91±2.07 for health care system organization,respectively.The community medical staff in Changsha municipality had higher ACIC total score and dimension scores for health care system organization,community communication,self-management support,and service system design than those in Chenzhou and Huaihua municipality;the community medical staff with primary professional titles had higher ACIC scores for decision-making support and health information system than those with intermediate or senior professional titles,and the staff with intermediate professional titles had higher ACIC scores for community communication,decision-making support,health care service system design,and health information system than those with senior professional titles.No significant differences in ACIC scores were observed among the community medical staff of different gender,education level,working years,working position,and from different regions.Conclusion The capability for implementing community chronic disease self-management support is low among medical staff in grass-roots health care institutions and regional difference exists in the capacity of chronic disease management service in Hunan province.