The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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Remote and digital services must be equitable, but some patients have difficulty using these services. Designing measures to overcome digital disparities can be challenging for practices. Personas (fictional cases) are a potentially useful tool in this regard. ⋯ Personas can illuminate the multiple and intersecting dimensions of disadvantage in patient populations who are marginalised and may prove useful when designing or redesigning digital primary care services. Adopting an intersectional lens may help practices address digital disparities.
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Parkinson's disease is a multisystem condition that usually presents as a movement disorder in clinical practice. There is no objective method for its diagnosis and therefore the current diagnostic process is based on characteristic clinical signs and symptoms. As the presenting symptoms can be vague and non-specific, there is often a delay in diagnosis leading to mismanagement and delayed treatment initiation. In the UK, GPs identify and initially assess individuals with Parkinson's disease and refer them to specialists for formal diagnosis and treatment initiation. ⋯ This scoping review shows that there are no well-conducted studies assessing the accuracy of Parkinson's disease diagnoses when made by GPs. This calls for more focused research in this area as diagnostic delays and errors may lead to potentially harmful but preventable delays in treatment initiation resulting in decreased quality of life for individuals with Parkinson's disease.