Family practice
-
Mental health disorders among children and youths are common and often have negative consequences for children, youths, and families if unrecognized and untreated. With the goal of early recognition, primary care physicians (PCPs) play a significant role in the detection and referral of mental disorders. However, PCPs report several barriers related to confidence, knowledge, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Therefore, initiatives have been taken to assist PCPs in their clinical decision-making through clinical decision support methods (CDSMs). ⋯ Easy-to-use CDSMs of good quality are valuable for advising PCPs on the detection and referral of children and youths with mental health disorders. However, valid multicentre research on a combination of computer-based methods and telecommunication is still needed.
-
Prescribing rates of some analgesics decreased during the public health crisis. Yet, up to a quarter of opioid-naïve persons prescribed opioids for noncancer pain develop prescription opioid use disorder. We, therefore, sought to evaluate a pilot educational session to support primary care-based sparing of opioid analgesics for noncancer pain among opioid-naïve patients in British Columbia (BC). ⋯ The educational session outlined in this pilot yielded mixed results but appeared acceptable to learners and may need further refinement to become a feasible way to train professionals to help tackle the current toxic drugs crisis.
-
Most antibiotic prescribing for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) and acute bronchitis is inappropriate. Substantive and sustained reductions in prescribing are needed to reduce antibiotic resistance. Prescribing habits develop early in clinicians' careers. Hence, general practice (GP) trainees are an important group to target. ⋯ GP registrars' prescribing for URTI and acute bronchitis/bronchiolitis declined over the 10-year period. Prescribing for acute bronchitis/bronchiolitis, however, remains higher than recommended benchmarks. Continued education and programme-level antibiotic stewardship interventions are required to further reduce registrars' antibiotic prescribing for acute bronchitis/bronchiolitis to appropriate levels.