Research on the Change of Strategies in Choosing Medical Institutions Among Residents in Central China

Abstract：Objective To research the decision-making factors for the medical treatment selection of residents in the central China,and to provide the basis for guiding the reasonable utilization of residents' health service.Methods Investigation of residents and patients in three counties in Anhui,Henan and Hubei Provinces were done in the use of multi-stage stratified random sampling method.Results The four decision-making factors of technical level,condition and attitude,convenience,and cost level of medical institutions are 0.320,0.299,0.229 and 0.222 respectively in the selection decision of residents.The weight of technical level goes up from 0.319 to 0.328 with the increase of county hospital distance.Residents of different properties have different preferences on medical institutions.The residents attach the most importance to technical level,with a weight of 0.338.The inpatients were most concerned with condition and attitudes,with a weight of 0.302.Conclusion The priorities of decision-making factors for residents' medical treatment institutions are the technical level,cost level,convenience,conditions and attitudes.Young people are more susceptible to hospitals' conditions and attitudes while older people prefer closer one.The further away from medical institutions,the more attention will be paid to the technical level.Healthy residents value technical level most,relatives value cost and convenience.