Table 1 The comparison of Specialist LINK awareness and utilization between Physicians in Urban and Rural PCNs
Urban PCNs n (%) | Rural PCNs n (%) | Chi-square Statistics | P-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Awareness of Specialist LINK | 0.12 | 0.73 | ||
Yes | 186 (88.6%) | 29 (90.6%) | ||
No | 24 (11.4%) | 3 (9.4%) | ||
Used Specialist LINK | 0.66 | 0.42 | ||
Yes | 136 (71.2%) | 22 (78.6%) | ||
No | 55 (28.8%) | 6 (21.4%) | ||
Number of times accessed | 0.82 | 0.37 | ||
Haven’t used it | 11 (7.3%) | 0 (0.0%) | ||
1–2 times | 39 (25.8%) | 7 (30.4%) | ||
3–5 times | 49 (32.5%) | 6 (26.1%) | ||
> 5 times | 52 (34.4%) | 10 (43.5%) | ||
Improvement in patient management | 0.01 | 0.95 | ||
Yes | 127 (73.0%) | 21 (72.4%) | ||
No | 47 (27.0%) | 8 (27.6%) | ||
Effectiveness of Specialist LINK Mean (SD) | 8.07 (1.82) | 8.26 (1.57) | 0.18a | 0.68 |
n = 164 | n = 23 | |||
Awareness of Clinical Pathways | 3.63 | 0.06 | ||
Yes | 117 (56.8%) | 11 (37.9%) | ||
No | 89 (43.2%) | 18 (62.1%) | ||
Accessed PCN Clinical Pathways | 0.14 | 0.71 | ||
Yes | 102 (81.6%) | 12 (85.7%) | ||
No | 23 (18.4%) | 2 (14.3%) | ||
Number of times used | 0.54 | 0.46 | ||
Haven’t used it | 17 (14.9%) | 2 (15.4%) | ||
1–2 times | 21 (18.4%) | 1 (7.7%) | ||
3–5 times | 38 (33.3%) | 4 (30.8%) | ||
> 5 times | 38 (33.3%) | 6 (46.2%) | ||
Change in practice | 2.11 | 0.15 | ||
Yes | 90 (81.1%) | 9 (64.3%) | ||
No | 21 (18.9%) | 5 (35.7%) | ||
Effectiveness of PCN Clinical Pathways Mean (SD) | 7.96 (1.55) | 7.55 (2.06) | 0.21a | 0.65 |
n = 104 | n = 11 |