| Continuity of care |
means that the patient’s own day-time primary care provider is informed of the patient contacting healthcare professionals during out of hours and that care is continued and followed up by the patient’s own primary care provider. |
| Feldscher (part of ISCO-08 2240) |
are a type of paramedical practitioners. |
| General medical practitioners/family medicine doctors/primary care doctors (part of ISCO-08 2211) |
are a type of generalist medical practitioners. |
| Generalist medical practitioners (ISCO-08 2211) |
are physicians including family and primary care doctors, who do not limit their practice to certain disease categories or methods of treatment and may assume responsibility for the provision of continuing and comprehensive medical care to individuals, families and communities. Occupations included in this category require completion of a university-level degree in basic medical education plus postgraduate clinical training or equivalent for competent performance. Medical interns who have completed their university education in basic medical education and are undertaking postgraduate clinical training are included here. Although in some countries ‘general practice’ and 'family medicine' may be considered as medical specializations, these occupations should always be classified here. In Commonwealth of Independent States, district paediatric doctors and district therapeutists are included in this category. |
| Health benefits package |
refers to the type and scope of health services that a national purchaser buys from providers on behalf of its beneficiaries. |
| Incentives |
refer to rewards reinforcing positive performance and removing barriers that perversely effect desired performance to inspire and motivate health professionals, organizations and patients to work towards defined objectives. |
| Medical equipment |
is a medical device requiring calibration, maintenance, repair, user training, and decommissioning − activities usually managed by clinical engineers. Medical equipment is used for the specific purposes of diagnosis and treatment of disease or rehabilitation following disease or injury; it can be used either alone or in combination with any accessory, consumable, or other piece of medical equipment. Medical equipment excludes implantable, disposable or single-use medical devices. |
| Nurses (professionals) (ISCO-08 2221) |
provide treatment, support and care services for people who are in need of nursing care due to the effects of ageing, injury, illness or other physical or mental impairment, or potential risks to health. They assume responsibility for the planning and management of care of patients, including the supervision of other health care workers, working autonomously or in teams with medical doctors and others in the practical application of preventive and curative measures. Nurses (professionals) include general practice nurses, district nurse, specialist nurse and nurse practitioners. |
| Nurses and midwives offices (e.g. health post) (part of HP.3.3) |
are providers of ambulatory health care and comprise independent health professionals, in this case nurses and midwives, that operate in their own office without a generalist or specialist physicians. |
| Offices of general medical practitioner (HP.3.1.1) |
comprise establishments of health professionals who hold the degree of a doctor of medicine or a corresponding qualification and are primarily engaged in the independent practice of general/family medicine. Although in some countries “general practice” and “family medicine” may be considered as medical specialisations, these occupations should always be classified here. Generalist medical practitioner solo practice refers to offices held by a single practitioner. Ambulatory group practice refers to centres of multiple general medical practitioners. Office of general medical practitioner can generally be arranged as (1) an independent enterprise (solo practice), (2) part of the network of offices, (3) affiliated to ambulatory multi-profile (specialty) group practice/polyclinic and/or hospital. |
| Out-of-hours primary care |
refers to the organization and provision of primary care services outside office hours on weekdays [e.g. 5 pm- 8 am or 6 pm-9 am or other time frames depending on specific country’s primary health care office hours arrangements] and all day on weekends and holidays for urgent/acute conditions that can be safely managed in primary care. |
| Paramedical practitioners (ISCO-08 2240) |
are health professionals who provide advisory, diagnostic, curative and preventive medical services more limited in scope and complexity than those carried out by medical doctors. They work autonomously, or with limited supervision of medical doctors, and apply advanced clinical procedures for treating and preventing diseases, injuries and other physical or mental impairments common to specific communities. Examples of occupations: feldsher, advanced care paramedic, clinical officer (paramedical), primary care paramedic. |
| Primary care providers |
within the scope of this questionnaire are health professionals such as generalist medical practitioners, nurses, midwives, feldscher/paramedical practitioner who provide care of varied medical conditions in the community. |
| Primary health care facilities |
within the scope of this questionnaire are facilities providing primary care in the community, supporting and supervising community-based workers, and home-care programmes for people with chronic or terminal illness and disabled people. Examples: offices of general medical practitioner, ambulatory group practices, ambulatory multi-profile (specialty) group practices, polyclinics, nurses, feldshers or midwives offices (e.g. health posts), offices of other medical specialists (e.g. practices of independent offices of cardiologists, ophthalmologists, paediatricians of specialised care, etc.), other ambulatory health care centres (e.g. family planning centres, free-standing ambulatory surgery centres, dialysis care centres), providers of home health care services (e.g. community nurses and domiciliary nursing care, home health care agencies, in-home hospice care services, etc.). |
| Telephone triage line |
during out-of-hours is the telephone line which patients may use for the purpose of initial contact when seeking medical care for acute conditions (in some countries one telephone line is accepting calls for both urgent and emergent care). Triage is the process of determining the level of urgency and type of health care required in requests for help. Triage line is expected to direct a patient to the appropriate type of health care depending on the level of urgency and ensuring patient safety. Triage may be supported by computerized decision support systems. |
| Urgent/acute conditions |
within the scope of this questionnaire are non-life-threatening conditions that are sudden in onset and require immediate medical care, for example, acute exacerbations of non-communicable diseases that can be managed in the community and minor trauma/minor injuries. |