The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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Randomized Controlled Trial Pragmatic Clinical Trial
Oseltamivir for coronavirus illness: post-hoc exploratory analysis of an open-label, pragmatic, randomised controlled trial in European primary care from 2016 to 2018.
Patients infected with the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) are being treated empirically with oseltamivir, but there is little evidence from randomised controlled trials to support the treatment of coronavirus infections with oseltamivir. ⋯ Primary care patients with ILI testing positive for coronavirus (not including SARS-CoV-2) recovered sooner when oseltamivir was added to usual care compared with usual care alone. This may be of relevance to the primary care management of COVID-19.
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Prescribing high doses of methotrexate increases the potentially fatal risk of toxicity. To minimise risk, it is recommended that only 2.5 mg tablets are used. ⋯ The prevalence of unsafe methotrexate prescribing has reduced but remains common, with substantial variation between practices and CCGs. The authors recommend investment in better strategies around implementation. As 21 deaths that occurred from 1993-2017 in England and Wales were attributed to methotrexate poisoning, the coroners' reports for these deaths should be reviewed to identify recurring themes.
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Demand for GP services in the Republic of Ireland (RoI) is increasing, and the resultant escalation in workload demands is an issue of growing concern. Accordingly, the accurate measurement and description of GP workload is essential to inform future healthcare planning. ⋯ To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to provide an objective, accurate, and granular real-time measurement of GP workload in the RoI, demonstrating the significant volume and variety of work undertaken by GPs in the RoI.