The European journal of general practice
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COVID-19 outbreak has significantly changed all aspects of general practice in Europe. This article focuses on the academic challenges for the discipline, mainly in the field of education, research, and quality assurance. The efforts of the European Region of the World Organisation of National Colleges, Academies, and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians (WONCA Europe) to support academic sustainability of the discipline in the time of pandemic are presented. ⋯ These aspects will require discussion and remedy to prevent deterioration of the quality of primary care. WONCA Europe is making a multi-faceted effort to support GPs in difficult times of the pandemic. It is ready to support future efforts to uphold the integrity of family medicine as an academic discipline.
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Background: Undetected dementia in primary care is a global problem. Since general practitioners (GPs) act as the first step in the identification process, examining their routines could help us to enhance the currently low recognition rates. Objectives: The study aimed to explore, for the first time in Hungary, the dementia identification practices and views of GPs. ⋯ Longer consultation time was chosen as the most important facet of improvement needed for better identification of dementia in primary care (81%). Half of the GPs (49%) estimated dementia recognition rate to be lower than 30% in their practice. Conclusions: Hungarian GPs were aware of the benefits of early recognition, but the shortage of consultation time in primary care was found to be a major constraint on efficient case-finding.
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Background: Physical inactivity implies a significant individual and society health burden. Objectives: To assess the feasibility of implementing a preventive physical exercise (PE) programme for the general population and to analyse changes in fitness-related variables and quality of life. Methods: Pre-post comparison study in which general practitioners and nurses recommended PE to participants with sedentary behaviour and hypertension or dyslipidaemia attending in primary care for primary prevention of ischaemic cardiovascular disease. ⋯ Results: The PE programme was offered to 6,140 eligible subjects; 5,077 (82.7%) accepted to participate and received a recommendation; 3,656 (69.6% women) started the programme and 2,962 subjects (80.9% women) finished the programme. After 10 weeks, there were significant improvements (mean difference, 95% CI) in aerobic fitness (2.55 ml/min/kg, 2.32-2.79), muscle strength (0.62 m, 0.57 to 0.67), flexibility (2.34 cm, 2.06 to 2.63) and balance (-0.46 falls, -0.60 to -0.33) as well as significant decreases in body weight (-0.41 kg, -0.64 to -0.17) and BMI (-0.27 kg/m2, -0.34 to -0.20). Conclusion: Implementation of a government-supported PE programme for the general population recruited in the primary care setting and recommended by healthcare professionals is feasible, and was associated with health benefits, mainly improvements in physical fitness.