Stakeholders’ Perception About Medical Doctors’ Competency in Primary Health Care

Phycisians graduated from Faculty of Medicine are expected to fulfill the required competences by the community in providing medical services in the primary health care. This study aimed at exploring the need, competence, and perfomance of phycisian graduated from Indonesian Faculty of Medicine in primary health care based on stakeholder perception. The study conducted in six cities in South Jakarta, Bandar Lampung, Pontianak, Makasar, Denpasar, and Ternate between July and October 2008. This qualitative study employed in-depth interview and focus group discussion (FGD) for data collection. Informants were stakeholders from local health centers, private clinics, medical doctor association, local government office and district dealth office. There were 67 informants and 11 FGDs. Interview guideline was developed using 7 areas of the phycisian standard of competence developed by the Indonesian Medical Council. In general, the stakeholders’ perceptions of the physician competence in providing medical services in the primary health care were in line with the standard of competence. Self-introspection and self-improvement were perceived very good. Effective communication and the use of information technology were perceived low. The primary health care institutions did not provide sufficient effort to improve these two competences. Phycisians’ clinical competence, basic medical knowledge, public health management, ethics, moral, medicolegal, and patient safety were considered good. Education improvement in communication and technology information for medical students are expected. In general, the quality of medical education supporting clinical competence and basic medical knowledge are acceptable and need to be maintained to follow the new development of medical sciences.