Background: Patients with multimorbidity represent a significant portion of the primary healthcare population. For healthcare providers, managing patients with multiple chronic conditions represents a challenge given the complexity and the intensity of interventions. Integrated and patient-centered care is considered an effective response to the needs of people who suffer from multiple chronic conditions. According to the literature providing patient-centered care is one of the most important interventions in terms of positive health-related outcomes for patients with multimorbidity.Aim: The aim of the study is to evaluate the GPs’ perception of patient oriented interventions as key elements of patient centred care for patients with multimorbidity.Material and methods: A cross-sectional pilot study was conducted among randomly selected 73 GPs. A direct individual anonymous survey was performed to explore the opinion of respondents about the importance of two patient-oriented interventions, each one including specific elements of patient-centered care for patients with multimorbidity. The tool was developed as a result of the scoping review performed by Smith et al. (2012;2016). A 5-point Likert scale (0-not at all, 1-little, 2-rather, 3-much, 4-very strong) was used. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics. In processing the data, the software product for statistical analyses - SPSS version 17 was performed for Windows XP.Results: Our results show that both categories - providing patient-oriented approach and self-management support interventions were highly accessed by the respondents. The most frequent categories of interventions identified in our study were Creating individualized and adapted interventions, Performing regular contacts and Reinforcing adherence. Less frequently reported elements such as Considering relatives’ needs and Developing self-management plan are still underestimated by the Bulgarian GPs.Conclusions: The acceptance and understanding of innovative patient-centered interventions adapted to patients with multimorbidity could be accepted as a good indicator for improving health-related outcomes and care for patients with multiple chronic conditions.
Focusing on Individualized Patient-Centered Care for Health Equity
