Family practice
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
The use of text messaging to improve attendance in primary care: a randomized controlled trial.
Non-attendance is common in primary care and previous studies have reported that reminders were useful in reducing broken appointments. ⋯ Text messaging reminder system was effective in improving attendance rate in primary care. It was more cost-effective compared with the mobile phone reminder.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Cluster randomized trial of a multifaceted primary care decision-support intervention for inherited breast cancer risk.
GPs are increasingly expected to meet the needs of patients concerned about their risk of inherited breast cancer, but may lack skills or confidence to use complex management guidelines. We developed an evidence-based, multifaceted intervention intended to promote confidence and skills in this area. ⋯ No convincing evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention was found, probably reflecting barriers to its use in routine practice.
-
Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Testing a European set of indicators for the evaluation of the management of primary care practices.
Effective practice management is an important prerequisite for offering good clinical care. Internationally valid, reliable and feasible indicators and instruments are needed to describe and compare the management of primary care practices in Europe. ⋯ The EPA instrument provides feedback to practices that facilitates quality improvement and can compare primary care practices on a national and an international level.
-
Multicenter Study
Welfare rights advice in primary care: prevalence, processes and specialist provision.
Despite persistent poverty-related health inequalities, few sustained responses have been developed in primary care. Welfare rights provision has been proposed as one potential pathway to addressing health inequalities. ⋯ A large amount of practitioner consultation time is spent on welfare rights-related issues. Although practitioners are skilled in detecting need, and their practice is enhanced by specialist support, expansion is needed to provide the advice which cannot be met by clinical consultation.
-
Multicenter Study
Long-term prognosis of acute low back pain in patients seen in general practice: a 1-year prospective follow-up study.
We aimed to examine the prognosis of acute low back pain (LBP) in patients in general practice and to identify prognostic factors associated with the long-term prognosis based on information immediately available to the GP. ⋯ LBP in general practice has a good prognosis with regard to sick leave, but a high proportion of patients continue to complain of LBP. We were not able to identify objective measures that strongly predict the prognosis of the individual LBP patient. The overall assessment by the GPs seems to be the most important predictor associated with the long-term outcome.