Assessment of the operation of a pilot program of preventive medicine for adults in three primary care centers of Athens and Piraeus: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the operation of the pilot Program of Preventive Medicine for Adults (PPMA) from the provision of healthcare services in three primary health care centers of Athens and Piraeus (Greece). DESIGN: An observational, cross-sectional study was undertaken. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. SETTING: Three public primary health centers of Athens, Greece. PARTICIPANTS: 142 participants, 40-55 years of age, with no previously identified/diagnosed health issues (overall healthy) that should not have undergone any type of screening in the past 12 months. MEASURES AND RESULTS: The majority of participants were female (75.4%), aged 40-45 years (43.7%), Greek nationals (88%), employed (62.7%) and high school graduates (52.8%). 68.3% of participants scheduled an appointment in the first two days and 58.9% waited up to 5 minutes in the waiting room. The paramedical personnel scored higher evaluation (4.94) than the doctor (4.61), but all health care centers received a very high general evaluation (4.87). Multiple linear regression showed significant association between the evaluation of the pilot PPMA, the evaluation of health visitor/nurse (B = .240) and the communication of results to participants (B = .245). CONCLUSIONS: Findings show an extremely positive evaluation of the pilot PPMA, a result that can be used by healthcare managers for the expansion of the screening program to the general population.