BMJ : British medical journal
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
NHS Direct versus general practice based triage for same day appointments in primary care: cluster randomised controlled trial.
To assess the relative effects on consultation workload and costs of off-site triage by NHS Direct for patients requesting same day appointments compared with usual on-site nurse telephone triage in general practice. ⋯ External management of requests for same day appointments by nurse telephone triage through NHS Direct is possible but comes at a higher cost than practice nurse delivered triage in primary care. If NHS Direct could achieve the same proportions of consultation types as practice based triage, costs would be comparable.
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To study medical students' views about the quality of the teaching they receive during their undergraduate training, especially in terms of the hidden curriculum. ⋯ Following on from the recent reforms of the manifest curriculum, the hidden curriculum now needs attention to produce the necessary fundamental changes in the culture of undergraduate medical education.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Randomised controlled trial of physiotherapy compared with advice for low back pain.
To measure the effectiveness of routine physiotherapy compared with an assessment session and advice from a physiotherapist for patients with low back pain. ⋯ Routine physiotherapy seemed to be no more effective than one session of assessment and advice from a physiotherapist.
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To assess the effects of treatments for basal cell carcinoma. ⋯ Little good quality research has been done on the treatments used for the most common cancer in humans. Most trials have included only people with basal cell carcinoma occurring at low risk sites. Only one trial measured recurrence at four years; recurrence rates at one year should be interpreted with caution. Surgery and radiotherapy seem to be the most effective treatments; surgery showed the lowest failure rates. Other treatments might have some use but need to be compared with surgery.