Strategies to improve general practitioner well-being: findings from a focus group study
ConclusionThese strategies merit further consideration by researchers, physicians, healthcare organizations and policy makers both in the UK and beyond. Failure to do so may result in healthcare staff becoming even more burntout, potentially leading to a loss of doctors from the workforce. (Source: Family Practice)
Source: Family Practice - December 22, 2017 Category: Primary Care Source Type: research
Do non-terminally ill adults want to discuss the end of life with their family physician? An explorative mixed-method study on patients ’ preferences and family physicians’ views in Belgium
ConclusionAlthough patients are willing to discuss the EOL with their FPs, patients and FPs identified different themes as triggers to initiate discussions about the EOL. The variation in triggers could lead to missed opportunities to engage in ACP in a timely manner. (Source: Family Practice)
Source: Family Practice - December 20, 2017 Category: Primary Care Source Type: research
Ambulance dispatch versus general practitioner home visit for highly urgent out-of-hours primary care
ConclusionResearch should be done on the process of triage and allocation of care to optimize labelling complaints with the appropriate urgency and to deploy the appropriate healthcare provider, especially for patients with chest pain. (Source: Family Practice)
Source: Family Practice - December 20, 2017 Category: Primary Care Source Type: research
Number of patients needed to prescribe statins in primary cardiovascular prevention: mirage and reality
ConclusionsFive-year NNTs for statins to prevent a first CHD is almost three times higher in those at lower versus higher risk populations. Reporting combined results from RCTs including subjects at different cardiovascular risks should be avoided. Individualizing the risk of CHD should orient family physicians and their patients in their choice of preventive approaches and generate more realistic expectations about compliance and outcomes. (Source: Family Practice)
Source: Family Practice - December 18, 2017 Category: Primary Care Source Type: research
Depression screening and management in primary care
A mental health catch phrase in the 1980s was that depression went undetected in more than half of primary care patients and, even when recognized, it was inadequately treated at least half of the time. This admonishment often came from mental health professionals who did not fully understand the presentation of depression in primary care nor the context and complexity of general practice. This is particularly salient given the fact that three-fourths of patients are treated for depression exclusively in primary care (1). (Source: Family Practice)
Source: Family Practice - December 18, 2017 Category: Primary Care Source Type: research
German healthcare professionals ’ perspective on implementing recommendations about polypharmacy in general practice: a qualitative study
ConclusionWhile many interventions to improve polypharmacy focus on the provision of pharmacological knowledge, a much wider range of domains need to be addressed, such as communication skills, patient involvement and practice organization. (Source: Family Practice)
Source: Family Practice - December 16, 2017 Category: Primary Care Source Type: research
Improving the quality of point-of-care testing
ConclusionsThese findings indicate that adoption of quality management for POCT, including participation in IQC and EQA, with the support of laboratory medicine professionals, will improve the quality of the results ‘produced’. (Source: Family Practice)
Source: Family Practice - December 15, 2017 Category: Primary Care Source Type: research
Short courses of penicillin for streptococcal pharyngitis are not supported by the evidence
Dear Sir/Madam, (Source: Family Practice)
Source: Family Practice - December 13, 2017 Category: Primary Care Source Type: research
Barriers to contacting general practice with alarm symptoms of colorectal cancer: a population-based study
ConclusionBarriers to contacting the GP were frequent when experiencing alarm symptoms of colorectal cancer. Reporting the different barriers was significantly associated with gender and age. (Source: Family Practice)
Source: Family Practice - December 12, 2017 Category: Primary Care Source Type: research
Informing antimicrobial stewardship: factors associated with inappropriate antimicrobial prescribing in primary care
ConclusionsHigh frequency of potentially inappropriate antimicrobial prescribing, especially in certain patient populations, suggests the need for coordinated community-based AS programs to optimize prescribing and improve patient care. (Source: Family Practice)
Source: Family Practice - December 10, 2017 Category: Primary Care Source Type: research
Use of ultrasound for the palpable undescended testis: a wasteful practice
ConclusionsReferral of patients for suspected undescended testis should not be accompanied by an US study as US is not useful in these cases. (Source: Family Practice)
Source: Family Practice - December 10, 2017 Category: Primary Care Source Type: research
Seen through the patients ’ eyes: quality of chronic illness care
ConclusionThe CCM is considered an important step towards improved care for patients with chronic diseases. However, the findings of this study showed that elements from the CCM have not yet been fully implemented. Aspects such as dealing with problems which interfered with achieving predefined goals, helping patients to set specific goals for their care delivery and arranging follow-ups are less common in today ’s care of chronic diseases. (Source: Family Practice)
Source: Family Practice - December 10, 2017 Category: Primary Care Source Type: research
Sleep hygiene education as a treatment of insomnia: a systematic review and meta-analysis
ConclusionsAlthough SHE is less effective than CBT-I, unanswered methodological and implementation issues prevent a firm conclusion to be made on whether SHE has a role in a stepped-care model for insomnia in primary care. (Source: Family Practice)
Source: Family Practice - November 29, 2017 Category: Primary Care Source Type: research
A 10-year review of health care reform on Family Practice Integrated Care Project —Taiwan experience
ConclusionsIn the future, through the support of family physicians and CHCGs, a person-centred integrated health care delivery system can be an effective solution to the current barriers in the medical care system. (Source: Family Practice)
Source: Family Practice - November 29, 2017 Category: Primary Care Source Type: research
Patient reported health status and all-cause mortality in patients with coronary heart disease
ConclusionsOverall, the magnitude of effect for both mental health status and physical health status was similar; higher scores were significantly associated with a lower risk of mortality at 6-year follow-up. (Source: Family Practice)
Source: Family Practice - October 28, 2017 Category: Primary Care Source Type: research
