Self-perceived limitations and difficulties by Primary Health Care Physicians to assist emergencies

The study was aimed to identify the training received in Emergency Medicine by physicians and the limitations and difficulties self-perceived by those physicians to assist in emergencies, as well as to analyze the differences according to the work context. Observational cross-sectional study made by a survey using a self-administered questionnaire to a representative simple random sample (with replacement) of 294 doctors (n) working at the Primary Health Care centers out of the total of 851 doctors (N) that form the staff of physicians of Primary Health Care system of Asturias (Spain). In rural areas, the most frequently mentioned reasons were the lack of practical skills (32.65%), absence of adequate material (20.41%), lack of theoretical knowledge (8.16%), and poor equipment conditions (4.08%). In the semi-urban area, the most common reasons were the lack of practical skills (19.61%), lack of theoretical knowledge (10.78%), absence of adequate material (8.82%), and poor equipment conditions (4.90%). Finally, in the urban area, the main reason was the lack of practical skills (23.40%), absence of adequate material (20.21%), lack of theoretical knowledge (9.57%), and poor equipment conditions (4.26%). The differences were significant (P = .003) among the 3 work context. The absence of practical skills is the most frequent cause referred by doctors of the 3 areas as a key to not act correctly in an emergency. The doctors of the rural area perceive that they are better prepared in general to solve emergencies and it is the professionals of 3 areas that report having carried out more basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation, advanced and attention to the polytraumatized patient courses.