The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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In the UK, poor oral health among children continues to be a major public health concern. Primary care professionals are encouraged to take a proactive approach in engaging parents and carers to develop better oral health practices for their children. Unfortunately, research has shown that patients are often exposed to inconsistent and at worst conflicting advice. ⋯ Achieving good oral health for all children requires the support of a wide range of healthcare professionals. Further education sessions such as this encourages joint learning and relationship building between professionals and influences behaviour to improve child health care as part of making every contact count. The emerging Primary Care Networks provide an excellent setting to deliver this education.
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The General Practice Forward View (GPFV) outlined how the government plans to attain a strengthened model of general practice. A key component of this proposal is an expansion of the workforce by employing a varied range of practitioners, in other words 'skill mix'. A significant proportion of this investment focuses on increasing the number of 'new' roles such as clinical pharmacists, physiotherapists, physician associates, and paramedics. ⋯ A negative correlation between advanced nurse FTE and GP FTE is potentially suggestive of substitution between roles, deliberate or otherwise. For example, practices may employ 'new' roles if they are unable to recruit GPs or they may recruit staff to free up GP time. Further work is needed to confirm these findings and to explore the reasons behind practice employment decisions.
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The quality of general practice in Myanmar is currently highly variable. No formalised system of revalidation yet exists and so engagement with continuing professional development (CPD) activities and motivation to further one's own knowledge is sporadic. ⋯ Improving general practice is a key component in helping Myanmar develop its healthcare system; one step required is making engagement with CPD compulsory for the revalidation of clinicians. This pilot has highlighted existing inadequacies within current training of GPs, as well as the potential benefits of implementing a CPD credit reward system.