Family practice
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Observational Study
An overview of general practitioner consultations in China: a direct observational study.
General practitioner (GP) consultation has long been considered an important component of general practice, but few studies have focused on its characteristics in China. ⋯ This study described the profile of GP consultations and illustrated the complexity of care provided by GPs in China. As patient activation in GP consultations becomes increasingly important, future studies need to explore how to promote the engagement of patients in the whole consultation process other than just requesting for medicine.
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Observational Study
Family physicians with mental disorders admitted to a physicians' health programme: what can be learned?
Family physicians (FPs) are said to be suffering from high rates of mental distress. Physicians' health programmes (PHPs) have been developed in several countries to provide specialized care for those suffering from mental disorders. ⋯ The increase in FPs accessing PHPs in recent years is notable; however, the reasons behind this trend require deeper analysis at the personal, professional and institutional levels.
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Observational Study
Association of depression and anxiety with adherence in primary care patients with heart failure-cross-sectional results of the observational RECODE-HF cohort study.
Psychological distress has a negative impact on the prognosis and quality of life for patients with heart failure. We investigated the association between psychological distress and the patients' adherence to medical treatment (medication adherence) and self-care advice (lifestyle adherence) in heart failure. We further examined whether there are different factors associated with low medication compared to low lifestyle adherence. ⋯ Promising factors for increasing medication adherence (reduction of psychological distress) and lifestyle adherence (explaining the patient his/her heart failure diagnosis more than once and increase in the patients' self-efficacy), which were found in this cross-sectional study, must be further investigated in longitudinal studies.
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Absolute cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment is recommended for primary prevention of CVD, yet uptake in general practice is limited. Cholesterol requests at pathology services provide an opportunity to improve uptake by integrating absolute CVD risk assessment with this service. ⋯ Measurement of absolute CVD risk in pathology services is feasible, highly acceptable among middle-to-older adults and may increase uptake of guideline-directed care in general practice.
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Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are estimated to account for 60% of infants' primary care visits. There is limited research into risk factors for infant RTIs in those born to teenage mothers. ⋯ Risk factors previously found to increase the risk of an RTI infant admission in the broader population have been identified here. This study is one of the first to identify modifiable risk factors of high primary care RTI consulters.