The following is a summary of “How do respondents of primary care surveys compare to typical users of primary care? A comparison of two surveys” published in the March 2023 issue of Primary Care by Cronin, et al.
Primary care surveys are a significant source of evaluative data, and it is crucial to know how survey respondents stack up against the target group. This research aimed to compare and contrast the sample and recruitment methods utilized by 2 primary care surveys (TRANSFORMATION and QUALICOPC) and their respective effects on physician and patient representation. Researchers connected both surveys’ physician and patient respondents to administrative health records. Patients’ socioeconomic status, chronic disease diagnosis, and healthcare consumption were compared to patients who visited the practice on the same day and other randomly selected dates. Sociodemographic and practice data were used to compare doctors to those in their practice and those in the targeted area.
More male physicians answered the TRANSFORMATION survey than were typically found in their practice groups or the surrounding area. The doctors affiliated with TRANSFORMATION cared for more people than any other local doctors. There were no significant differences between QUALICOPC survey respondents and the practice’s general patient population. Patients who participated in the TRANSFORMATION survey tended to be older, less likely to have a chronic illness, and less likely to use the practice’s medical services more frequently than the practice’s overall patient population.
Some of the discrepancies in representativeness may be attributable to differences in the procedures used to recruit physicians and patients for the surveys. Researchers conducting surveys in primary care should use many approaches to ensure representativeness and reduce the possibility of nonresponse bias.
Source: bmcprimcare.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12875-023-02029-1