The European journal of general practice
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Childhood fever: Parental paracetamol administration after consulting out-of-hours general practice.
Background: Current guidelines emphasise prudent use of paracetamol in febrile children without pain. Little evidence is available on paracetamol administration by parents in general and post-GP-consultations. Objectives: To investigate if and how often parents of febrile children administer paracetamol to their child after consulting a GP during out-of-hours care. ⋯ Frequency of paracetamol administration was similar for most common infections, regardless of being painful or painless. Conclusion: Most children who consulted out-of-hours general practice for fever and common infections received paracetamol at home during their illness episode, regardless of a painful condition being present. Paracetamol administration increased with age.
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Observational Study
Improving the quality of antibiotic prescribing through an educational intervention delivered through the out-of-hours general practice service in Ireland.
Antibiotic resistance is a threat to our health and health systems. Up to 70% of antibiotics are prescribed in general practice. In Ireland, Out-of-hours (OOH) services are mostly provided by co-operatives of GPs and the 11 main OOH centres cover up to 90% of the population. More than 80% of GPs are involved in OOH care in their area, which provides an opportunity to deliver education and awareness through this centralised system. ⋯ Our intervention implemented in the OOH GP service categorised antibiotics into red prescriptions and green (firstline) prescriptions, which was recorded through an electronic pop-up message, resulted in an absolute reduction of 27% in red prescriptions and more than 23% in co-amoxyclav prescriptions.
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Despite the risk for developing mental disorders, most of advanced cancer patients' family caregivers undergo a resilient process throughout the caregiving period. Research on resilience in caregivers of advanced cancer patients is scarce and further hindered by the lack of a univocal definition and a theoretical framework. ⋯ To address flaws in conceptualisation and the resulting gaps in knowledge, we suggest a definition and a theoretical framework that are suited to allow heterogeneity in the field, but enables the development of sound interventions, as well as facilitate the interpretation of intervention effectiveness.
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Background: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a major cause of premature mortality. Survival is possible when timely cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation are available in the community. GPs are well placed to provide early OHCA care and significantly increased rates of survival are achieved when GPs participate in resuscitation. ⋯ Participation was not without psychosocial risk for GPs. Conclusion: GPs volunteer to provide early OHCA emergency care because of their relationship to the community. Care provided is complex and includes both resuscitation and end-of-life care.