The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
The effects of a team-based continuous quality improvement intervention on the management of primary care: a randomised controlled trial.
To study the effects of a team-based model for continuous quality improvement (CQI) on primary care practice management. ⋯ The intervention exerted a significant effect on the number and quality of improvement projects undertaken and self-defined objectives met. Failure of the effects of the intervention on the other dimensions of practice management to achieve significance may be due to the topics selected for some of the improvement projects being only partly covered by the assessment instrument.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A randomised controlled trial of motivational interviewing for smoking cessation.
Motivational interviewing is a technique used to promote change in addictive behaviour, initially used to treat alcoholism. Despite this, its effectiveness has not been sufficiently demonstrated for giving up smoking. ⋯ The results of our study show that motivational interviewing is more effective than brief advice for giving up smoking.
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Inhaled corticosteroids are effective and safe treatments for childhood asthma in standard doses, yet at high dosages they may be associated with adverse events and suboptimal outcomes; add-on therapy is, therefore, recommended to minimise their use. We quantified prescribing of high-dose inhaled corticosteroids and add-on therapy in children in July 2003 and found that high-dose inhaled corticosteroids were prescribed to 10% of children aged 5-11 years and 6% of under-5's who were treated for asthma. Add-on therapy was lacking for almost half of these individuals. Some children were receiving treatment not in accord with current licences and evidence-based recommendations and, as such, may be at risk of adverse outcomes.