The results of Prof. Tengiz Verulava's article „Patients' perceptions about access to health care and referrals to family physicians in Georgia", were published in the international scientific peer-reviewed journal Archives of the Balkan Medical Union.

The journal is indexed in the international scientific database of SCOPUS (Elsevier). The study was conducted in collaboration with the School of Psychology and Public Health , La Trobe University (Melbourne, Australia).

See the full article.

Primary health care is the foundation of the health care system. Adequate utilization of primary health care directly affects the health status of the country's population and the effectiveness of health care spending. Referrals to a family doctor per capita in Georgia are low compared to other countries.

The aim of the research is to study the reasons for low referral to a family doctor in Georgia. Research has shown that low referral to family physician is mainly due to distrust of family physician, which is related to low population awareness about family physician competencies. Due to inadequate remuneration, family physicians do not have sufficient motivation to provide appropriate services. The low role of continuing professional education negatively affects their professional development. It is advisable to raise public awareness about the primary health care system. It is also desirable to introduce effective methods of remuneration of family physicians, increase the role and availability of continuing professional education.