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Table 2 Practice and family profile of models and bivariate association with the continuity score

From: Predictors of relational continuity in primary care: patient, provider and practice factors

Practice characteristics

Profile distribution

Association with continuity across all models

 

Standardized effect size

 

CHC

FFS

FHN

HSO

Effect Size (%)1

95% CI3

ES/SD

Practice type (n)

35

35

35

32

   

Mean # FP and NP

5.5

2.5

3.9

1.8

−0.94

(−1.2, -0.55) **

M

Panel size1 (1000’s)†2,4

1.3

1.8

1.5

2

−0.33

(−0.12, 0.65)

S

Booking intervals (min)†

25

13

14

14

−0.17

(−0.31, -0.038) *

M

Solo practice5‡

0

26

37

38

3.7

(5.7, 1.7) **

VL

Presence of nurse(s) (%)†

97

31

69

75

−2.7

(−4.6, -0.81) **

M

Number of nurses6†

2.7

0.6

2

1.1

−1.1

(−1.6, -0.50) **

VL

# hours practice open out of (8am-4pm)

12

8

7

5

−0.32

(−0.48, -0.16) **

L

Open on weekends

20

20

23

0

−5.3

(−7.6, -3.0) **

M

Contextual factors

       

Hospital (<10km)

71.4

85.3

94.1

86.7

−0.74

(−3.1, 1.6)

T

Rurality index4

14

12.6

16.2

8

−0.0085

(−0.063, 0.046)

T

Family physician characteristics

108

58

80

42

   

Average years since graduation†

19

22

23

29

0.19

(0.082, 0.30) **

T

Female FP (%)5‡

58

45

41

26

−3

(−5.2, -0.86) **

L

Provider foreign trained (%)§

9.3

17.2

2.5

14.3

2.2

(−2.0, 6.4)

T

Provider has CFPC degree (%)

79

85

78

68

−0.77

(−3.3, 1.7)

T

>24 hours on call/week (%)

17.6

12.1

19

36.6

3.2

(0.82, 0.55) **

VL

  1. 1 ES/SD: Effect Size / Standard deviation; S if ES/SD < 0.2; M if 0.2 < =ES/SD < 0.5; L if 0.5 < =ES/SD < 0.8; VL if ES/SD > =0.8; CI = Confidence Interval; FP = family physician; NP = Nurse Practitioner; CFPC = College of Family Physicians of Canada.
  2. 2 Symbols adjacent to the practice factor indicate that it is statistically different across the models: § p < 0.05, ‡ p < 0.01, † p < 0.001. These are generated by Chi-square statistic or by F-statistic (ANOVA), as appropriate.
  3. 3 Symbols adjacent to the confidence intervals indicate that the effect size is significantly associated with the continuity score: * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01. These are generated by multi-level linear regression.
  4. 4 Average number of patients per full time equivalent family physician in the practice.
  5. 5 Reflects practices that host a single family physician only.
  6. 6Number of full time equivalent nurses and nursing assistants.
  7. 4 Refers to the Rurality Index of Ontario adopted by the Ontario Medical Association (https://www.oma.org/economics/data/RuralityRIO.pdf).
  8. 5 We only captured the socio-demographic characteristics of respondents. The percent of a female family physician in the practice reflects the percentage of female family physician respondents.