The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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Multicenter Study
Impact of same-day appointments on patient satisfaction with general practice appointment systems.
Following recent concerns about patients' inability to book appointments in advance, this study examined the relationship between the proportion of GP appointments reserved for same-day booking, and patient satisfaction with appointment systems. In a survey of 12,825 patients in 47 practices, it was found that a 10% increase in the proportion of same-day appointments was associated with an 8% reduction in the proportion of patients satisfied. Practices should be wary of increasing the level of same-day appointments to meet access targets.
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Multicenter Study
Impact of motor vehicle accidents on neck pain and disability in general practice.
High levels of continuous neck pain after a motor vehicle accident (MVA) are reported in cross-sectional studies. Knowledge of this association in general practice is limited. ⋯ Individuals exposed to MVAs constitute a relevant subgroup of patients with neck pain. An MVA and a longer duration of complaints are prognostic factors for continuous neck pain.
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Multicenter Study
Patients, prisoners, or people? Women prisoners' experiences of primary care in prison: a qualitative study.
The development of primary care services within prisons has been central to improvements in the provision of health care in this setting over the past decade. Despite national imperatives to involve patients in the development of services and numerous policy initiatives, there has been no systematic evaluation of changes in the delivery of primary care and little published evidence of consultation with prisoners. ⋯ The prison environment presents unique challenges to those providing health care, and much work has been done recently on modernizing prison health care and improving professional standards of practice. However, the accounts of women prisoners in this study suggest that there is a gap between patient experience and policy aspirations.
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Despite the magnitude of dizziness/vertigo in primary health care, prospective studies are scarce, and few studies have focused on vocational consequences. Using the International Classification of Primary Health Care (ICPC), GPs have two alternative diagnoses, H82 (vertiginous syndrome) and N17 (vertigo/dizziness), when issuing sickness certificates to these patients. ⋯ Dizziness/vertigo is an infrequent cause of certified sickness absence, but long-term sickness absentees with dizziness/vertigo have a considerable risk of obtaining a disability pension in the future.