Table 1 Patient and GP characteristics of 4377 telephone consultations 1 and drug prescription rates
Telephone consultations N (%) | Prescription rates % (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|
All contacts | 4,377 (100) | 19.9 (17.7-20.0) |
Patient characteristics | ||
Gender | ||
Female | 2,285 (54.8) | 21.5 (19.9-23.2) |
Male | 1,888 (45.2) | 18.0 (16.3-19.8) |
Age | ||
0-4 years | 841 (20.25) | 15.2 (13.0-17.8) |
5-17 years | 563 (13.5) | 17.2 (14.3-20.6) |
18-40 years | 1,398 (33.5) | 22.6 (20.5-24.9) |
41-60 years | 702 (16.8) | 23.4 (20.4-26.6) |
>60 years | 669 (16.0) | 18.7 (15.9-21.8) |
GP characteristics | ||
Gender | ||
Female | 1,140 (27.3) | 17.9 (15.8-22.1) |
Male | 3,033 (72.7) | 20.6 (19.2-22.1) |
Age | ||
<41 | 1,349 (32.3) | 19.2 (17.2-21.4) |
41-50 | 879 (21.1) | 18.2 (15.8-20.9) |
51-60 | 1,176 (28.2) | 21.9 (19.6-24.3) |
>60 | 769 (18.4) | 20.0 (17.3-23.0) |
Contact characteristics | ||
GP-assessed severity | ||
Severe/potentially severe | 320 (7.7) | 6.3 (4.1-9.5) |
Not severe/not ill | 3,642 (87.3) | 21.3 (20.0-22.6) |
Missing | 211 (5.1) | 17.1 (12.6-22.8) |
New episode/chronic disease | ||
New episode | 3,402 (81.5) | 19.6 (18.3-21.0) |
Exacerbation of chronic disease | 492 (11.8) | 18.5 (15.3-22.2) |
Missing/not relevant | 279 (6.7) | 26.2 (21.3-31.7) |
Number of hours from office hours | ||
<5 | 806 (19.3) | 19.1 (16.5-22.0) |
5-8 | 494 (11.8) | 11.9 (9.4-15.1) |
>8 (weekends) | 2,873 (68.9) | 21.5 (20.0-23.0) |