The European journal of general practice
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The countries of the former Yugoslavia have health and education systems with the same tradition but these have changed over the years. Little is known about how family medicine teaching transitioned from face-to-face to distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ Teachers used various old and new methods to provide learning opportunities despite COVID-19 constraints. Effective technology-based strategies are essential to ensure assessment integrity and enhance the learning environment.
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Pharmacists are increasingly incorporated into general practice teams globally and have been shown to positively impact patient outcomes. However, little research to date has focused on determining general practitioners' (GPs') perceptions of practice-based pharmacist roles in countries yet to establish such roles. ⋯ This study provides a deeper understanding of GPs' perceptions of integrating pharmacists into practices and the demographic characteristics associated with different perceptions, which may help better inform future initiatives to integrate pharmacists into practices.
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The German healthcare system is responsible for 5,2% of the national emissions of greenhouse gases. Therefore, mitigation actions to reduce the carbon footprint are crucial. However, there have been few approaches to achieve this in German primary care. ⋯ This study's findings can support the development of future environmental impact-reducing strategies in primary care. Potential options for guidance and support should be considered to facilitate sustainability.
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eHealth offers opportunities to improve health and healthcare systems and overcome primary care challenges in low-resource settings (LRS). LRS has been typically associated with low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), but they can be found in high-income countries (HIC) when human, physical or financial resources are constrained. Adopting a concept of LRS that applies to LMIC and HIC can facilitate knowledge interchange between eHealth initiatives while improving healthcare provision for socioeconomically disadvantaged groups across the globe. ⋯ The case studies illustrate eHealth's potential to improve the provision of healthcare by i) improving the delivery of healthcare (using AI-generated chats); ii) supporting the workforce (using telemedicine platforms); iii) strengthening the healthcare information system (through patient-centred healthcare information systems), and iv) improving system-related elements of healthcare (through a mobile health financing platform). Nevertheless, we found that development and implementation are hindered by user-related, technical, financial, regulatory and evaluation challenges. We formulated six recommendations to help anticipate or overcome these challenges: 1) evaluate eHealth's appropriateness, 2) know the end users, 3) establish evaluation methods, 4) prioritise the human component, 5) profit from collaborations, ensure sustainable financing and local ownership, 6) and contextualise and evaluate the implementation strategies.
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Securing primary care is an important issue for health policy. Given a threatened shortage of GPs in Germany, there are discussions about what actions to take to guarantee primary care. ⋯ The study has shown that GPs, from their perspective and experience, make specific suggestions to ensure primary care in the long term. Consequently, it is advisable to consider their points of view when planning, implementing and adjusting steps to strengthen primary care.