Residents’ utilization of healthcare services at commune health center and related factors, Duong Lieu commune, Hoai Duc district, Ha Noi, 2014

Abstract

       A cross-sectional study was conducted with a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods and aimed to assess the utilization of healthcare services and its associated factors among people in Duong Lieu commune, Hoai Duc district, Ha Noi, Vietnam. A total of 406 households and 295 residents with illness/sickness during the last 4 weeks, head of CHC, 1 leader of local peoples’ committee, and 10 ill/sick residents were recruited in this study.

The results showed that during 4 weeks prior to the survey, 53.2% of households had members with sickness/illness, and 17.9% of those were children, women and the elderly. Symptoms/sickness accounted for different proportions of local residents were upper respiratory infections (35.9%), diseases of the eyes (20.3%) and NCDs. About 98% of ill/sick people received treatment for their sickness/illness in their most recent episodes, including self-medication (29.5%), being visited by healthcare workers at home (24.4%), or seeking healthcare services at higher level health facilities (29.8%), and only 11.9% of sick people used healthcare services at the commune health center (CHC). The reasons for seeking healthcare services at CHC were as follows: being close to home (57.1%), mild condition of illness (28.6%), less waiting time (25.7%), good attitude of health staff (20%), affordable price of healthcare services (17.1%). The reasons for not seeking healthcare services were as follows: lack of drugs and equipment at CHC, no trust in qualifications of health staff. Ill/sick people using healthcare insurance card at CHC accounted for 37%. The study also revealed that the utilization of healthcare services was in a statistically significant association with occupation, education level, and distance from home to CHC. People who worked as tradespeople, housewives or farmers were 3.83 times more likely to use health services at CHC than others (OR=3.83, 95% CI: 1.05-9.50). People who had high-school education were 3.48 times more likely to use health services at CHC, compared to other groups (OR=3.48, 95% CI: 1.04- 3.99). People who do not live not far from CHC (<5km) tended to use health services at CHC more than those who had >5km distance from home to CHC (OR=2.84, 95% CI: 1.07 – 9.50).