The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Treatment reviews of older people on polypharmacy in primary care: cluster controlled trial comparing two approaches.
Older people are prone to problems related to use of medicines. As they tend to use many different medicines, monitoring pharmacotherapy for older people in primary care is important. ⋯ Performing treatment reviews with case conferences leads to greater uptake of clinically-relevant recommendations. Extra costs seem to be covered by related savings. The effect of the intervention declines over time, so performing treatment reviews for older people should be integrated in the routine collaboration between GPs and pharmacists.
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Multicenter Study
A retrospective review of significant events reported in one district in 2004-2005.
Patient safety is a key issue in primary care. Significant event analysis (SEA) is a long established method of improving safety. In 2004, SEA was introduced as part of the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) of the new general medical services (GMS) contract. ⋯ SEA in general practice is a valuable clinical governance and educational tool with potential patient safety benefits. Most practices performed SEA successfully but there were performance concerns and patient-safety issues were highlighted. This review emphasises the need for primary care organisations to be able to analyse and share SEAs effectively.