Minor surgical procedures and musculoskeletal injections by primary care physicians - an Israeli experience

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of the study population (N = 151), compared with all primary care physicians in the Negev district

	Study population (n = 151)		Primary care physicians in the CHS* Negev district (n = 277*)		P value
	N	%	N	%	P value
Gender
Male	73	48.3%	129	46.6%	0.725
Female	78	51.7%	148	53.4%
	151		277
Age
Mean ± SD	48.37 ± 8.95		48.5 ± 8.79		0.557
Range	32-65		31-68
	149	(mis = 2)	277
Country of birth
Israel	35	24.1%	67	24.2%	0.99
Other	110	75.9%	210	75.8%
	145	(mis = 6)	277
Country of medical studies
Israel	34	23.6%	39	14.1%	0.014
Other	110	76.4%	238	85.9%
	144	(mis = 7)	277
Professional status
Specialist in family medicine	86	57.0%	104	37.6%	<0.0001
Resident in family medicine	25	16.6%	54	19.5%
General practitioner	22	14.6%	105	37.9%
Expert in internal medicine	14	9.3%	14	5.0%
Other	4	2.6%	0	0.0%
	151		277
Years in practice as a physician
1-10	15	10.4%			<0.0001
11+	129	89.6%
Mean ± SD	23.49 ± 9.54		10.35 ± 12.28
Range	3-43		0-38
	144	(mis = 7)	277
Average number of patients per physician
Mean ± SD	1476 ± 500		1340 ± 445		0.001
Range	250-3000		250-3723
	131	(mis = 20)	277

* Southern District (Negev) of Clalit Health Services-health maintenance organization.
**Pediatricians were not included.
*** The list of physicians was extracted from the human resources section of the HMO’s administration.

ISSN: 2045-4015