Abstract:

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the practice of family medicine knowledge level of the groups registered to the family health center and using the hospital more frequently. Material and methods: The universe of the study, which has a cross-sectional design, comprises participants over the age 18 registered with any family physician and whose annual use rate of primary health care institution is 33% or less. To the participants; sociodemographic information, health service preference and family medicine practice knowledge level measurement questionnaire were applied by face-to-face interview technique. Results: This study was conducted with 489 participants, excluding pregnant and puerperal women. The practices that the participants are most aware of are diagnostic examination (83.0%); referral of patients (81.2%) and labrotory service (79.3%). On the other hand, the practices that the participants are leat aware of are periodic health examination (18.8%), prescribing a diet to the patient in need of diet (18.0%), cancer screenings (55.2%).On the other hand participants know that there is no service for burn (66.9%), physical therapy (74.0%), dental care (84.3%), dietician (54.8%) and radiology (79.8%). Conclusion: When the average scores of the participants are evaluated, although the knowledge of the family medicine practice is good, there are practices that have a very low level of awareness. Studies should be carried out to eliminate the lack of information about family medicine practice, as it will increase the demand for services.

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