The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Cost effectiveness of amoxicillin for lower respiratory tract infections in primary care: an economic evaluation accounting for the cost of antimicrobial resistance.
Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) are a major disease burden and are often treated with antibiotics. Typically, studies evaluating the use of antibiotics focus on immediate costs of care, and do not account for the wider implications of antimicrobial resistance. ⋯ Economic evaluation of antibiotic prescribing strategies that do not include the cost of resistance may provide misleading results that could be of questionable use to policymakers. However, further work is required to estimate robust costs of resistance.
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Observational Study
Telephone triage by GPs in out-of-hours primary care in Denmark: a prospective observational study of efficiency and relevance.
In the UK, telephone triage in out-of-hours primary care is mostly managed by nurses, whereas GPs perform triage in Denmark. ⋯ Around 12% of all face-to-face consultations in the study are assessed as irrelevant by GP colleagues, suggesting that GP triage is efficient. Knowledge of the factors influencing triage can provide better education for GPs, but future studies are needed to investigate other quality aspects of GP telephone triage.