| Summary: | Aim: With the health transformation program in Turkey, the Family Medicine Implementation (FMI) was started across the nation in the end of 2010. This study attempted to assess the influence of the FMI on outpatient applications to a third level state hospital.Methods: The number of outpatient applications from 2007 to 2014 was screened through an automation system. Eight clinics were examined including the clinics which Ministry of Health, the Board of Medical Specialties assigned as a part of obligatory rotation within the scope of Family Medicine assistant training, and emergency service. The year 2011 was taken as beginning year of the Family Medicine system. The period from 2007 to 2010 was taken as the pre-FMI period while the term from 2010 to 2014 was taken as the post-FMI period. The outpatient application rates of the selected clinics were compared by periods in correlation with population changes in the Anatolian site of İstanbul. In the analysis of the data, descriptive statistics, mean and standard deviation for continuous variables, Mann Whitney U Test for abnormal distribution comparisons of measured values were used. Significance was assessed at p<0,01 and p<0,05 levels.Results: It was found that no significant increase occurred in the number of patients who applied to the clinics of chest diseases and cardiology in parallel to population growth. In other clinics, the number of applications increased in correlation with population growth.Conclusion: The family medicine implementation made positive effects on the third level hospital in the beginning phase. We are of the opinion that, in order for these positive effects to be improved further, patients should be encouraged to apply to family physicians, and a health referral chain should be implemented with sufficient numbers of primary care personnel.
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