Scandinavian journal of primary health care
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Scand J Prim Health Care · Sep 2022
Influences of COVID-19 pandemic on hospital-at-home functions in Finland - a questionnaire survey.
To investigate functions of Finnish hospital-at-home (HAH) during the first year of COVID19-pandemic 2020 compared with the previous year 2019. ⋯ The COVID-19 pandemic did not largely influence the functions of the examined Finnish HAHs in 2020. Most activities and patients' characteristics remained unchanged from 2019. The role of HAHs should be further developed in Scandinavian countries, particularly during pandemics.Key PointsHospital-at-home (HAH) is a cost-effective model to provide hospital-like services.Data about the role of HAHs during COVID19 pandemics is lacking in the Nordic countries.This study shows that, the large Finnish municipal HAHs have been not influenced by pandemics.
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Scand J Prim Health Care · Sep 2022
Providing information at the initial consultation to patients with low back pain across general practice, chiropractic and physiotherapy - a cross-sectorial study of Danish primary care.
Clinical guidelines for managing low back pain (LBP) emphasise patient information, patient education and physical activity as key components. Little is known about who actually receives information. This study investigates to what extent information at the first consultation with general practitioner (GP), chiropractor (DC) and physiotherapist (PT) in Danish primary care is provided to patients with LBP. ⋯ In more than a quarter of first-time consultations, patient information was not provided. Large variation in providing information was found across the settings. The proportion provided with information increased for sub-populations having elevated distress or back-related leg pain below the knee.Key Points Clinical guidelines recommend patient information, patient education and physical activity for managing low back pain (LBP) • Information is not provided in more than a quarter of first-time consultations in Danish primary care settings that manage these patients. • Information increased for the sub-populations having elevated distress and back-related leg pain below the knee. • The conducted primary care surveys monitored clinical activity and illustrated variations in provision of information.
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Scand J Prim Health Care · Sep 2022
Late-effect awareness and follow-up of cancer in general practice.
With increasing cancer incidence and survival rates, follow-up care becomes a major healthcare concern, placing increased demands on general practitioners (GPs). We explored GPs' awareness of late effects (LEs) after cancer treatment. Their degree of involvement and attitudes towards follow-up care was studied separately for solid cancers and Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). ⋯ GPs' awareness of LEs and their willingness to provide follow-up care were related to familiarity with guidelines and experience. GPs more involved in follow-up care also had higher knowledge of LEs. Distribution of guidelines on LEs and follow-up care, and improving collaboration with hospital specialists, might increase GPs' knowledge and willingness to become involved in follow-up care, especially early in their careers. GPs' involvement and attitude towards follow-up of survivors of common solid cancers and HL, a rare malignant disease, were similar.KEY POINTSNorwegian general practitioners (GPs) are involved in survivorship care after cancer treatment. We investigated their awareness of late effects (LEs), their involvement and their attitude towards follow-up care of solid cancers and Hodgkin's lymphoma. • GPs registered as specialists, aware of guidelines and with experience from hospital-based cancer care reported higher awareness of LEs. • GPs with higher awareness of LEs were more frequently involved in follow-up care. • GPs with longer experience in general practice were comfortable with follow-up care at an earlier stage after treatment. • Results were similar for follow-up care of survivors of solid cancers and Hodgkin's lymphoma.
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Scand J Prim Health Care · Sep 2022
Do they cope or mope? A survey of GPs' experiences with the changes in the Norwegian Cervical Cancer Screening Programme.
To explore Norwegian general practitioners' (GPs) experiences with the changes in the cervical cancer screening programme and to uncover which aspects of the programme they find most challenging. ⋯ The implementation of HPV-based cervical cancer screening in women 34-69 years does not seem to have affected how challenging the GPs perceive the screening programme.Key PointsHow Norwegian general practitioners (GPs) keep up with changes in the Norwegian Cervical Cancer Screening Programme (NCCSP) has not been assessed previously.Most GPs did not find it particularly challenging to keep up with changes in the NCCSP regardless of whether they belonged to an area of HPV-based or cytology-based screening.The follow-up of patients with an abnormal test result was one of the main challenges reported by the GPs.