Analysis of senior population visits to physical medicine in Croatia.

ABSTRACT

The aim of the study was to analyze the senior population when deciding to choose either going to the private or public physical medicine practice in Croatia. 240 patients (public and private group, 120 participants each) from the Croatian medium large county Primorje-Gorski kotar, were enrolled from 6 physical medicine practices (3 public and 3 private). Between December 1st 2009 and January 31st 2010, in the public and private practices seniors aged 65 to 85 years were 64.17%, 52.40% respectively, of all interviewed participants in single group. The results showed that in Croatia majority of seniors visiting the physical medicine were females in revisit and dependents of government health insurance. Study suggested the great influence of general practitioner, closeness to home and time of the appointment for patients going to public physical medicine, while in private peers and sooner appointment outweigh. In either practice seniors were satisfied with the overall quality of health services and graded the best average-higher in favor for the private. Elderly Croatian residents showed to be the important feature in physical medicine and rehabilitation and to participate actively in their health issues. Following those results, we will perform the study in the rest of the country and compare it to this data. That could enable the specific improvement for the health care of seniors in Croatia.