Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Management

Advisor

Sheryl Kristensen

Abstract

While primary care plays a vital role in health maintenance and disease prevention, patients’ visits with primary care providers (PCP) are only 15-20 minutes on average. This visit length does not leave ample time for holistic care for patients with low socioeconomic backgrounds, who might also have psychosocial issues alongside their chronic conditions. Employing a qualitative multiple case study research design, this study explored participants' perceptions about the 15–20-minute visit duration with PCPs. Guided by the triple aim framework of improving patient healthcare outcomes, patient satisfaction with care, and cost of care per capita, this study answered the research question exploring the common understandings of participants of the 15-20 minute visit with PCP in primary care clinics. One-on-one semistructured virtual interviews were conducted with 15 participants, five patients of lower socioeconomic backgrounds, five healthcare providers, and five healthcare administrative leaders. Using NVivo software, several coding strategies were applied to understand participants' lived experience with the 15-20 minute visit duration with PCPs. Healthcare management practices, patient-physician satisfaction, patient-physician relationship, patient care, and patient visit with PCP were the main themes that emerged from this study. The study results showed that patients, PCPs, and healthcare managers preferred a longer than 15-20 minute patient visit with PCPs. The social change implication of this research is that the findings might have potential benefits for economically disadvantaged populations by aiding healthcare leaders in prioritizing addressing issues with visit duration, access to care, and quality of care for these patient populations.

Download

Share

 
COinS