The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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Demographic and policy changes appear to be increasing the complexity of consultations in general practice. ⋯ Consultations in general practice are complex encounters, dealing with multiple problems across a wide range of disease areas in a short time. Additional problems are dealt with very briefly. GPs, like patients, bring an agenda to consultations. There is systematic bias in the types of problems coded in electronic medical records databases.
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Reports suggest approximately 21-23% of GPs in the UK have consulted with patients using email, but little is known about the nature of this use and what it means for clinicians and patients in general practice. ⋯ Consultations by email in general practice occur in an unregulated and unstructured way. Current UK policy is to promote consultations by email, making it crucial to consider the responsibility and workload faced by clinicians, and the changes required to ensure safe use; not doing so may risk safety breaches and result in suboptimal care for patients.
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Concern exists regarding differential performance of candidates in postgraduate clinical assessments by ethnicity, sex, and country of primary qualification. Could examiner bias be responsible? ⋯ Examiners show no general tendency to 'favour their own kind'. With confounding between variables, as far as the impact on candidates' case scores, substantial effects relate to candidate and not examiner characteristics. Candidate-examiner interaction effects were inconsistent in their direction and slight in their calculated impact.