Bmc Fam Pract
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The treatment of multimorbid patients is one crucial task in general practice as multimorbidity is highly prevalent in this setting. However, there is little evidence how to treat these patients and consequently there are but a few guidelines that focus primarily on multimorbidity. Big data analytics are defined as a method that obtains results for high volume data with high variety generated at high velocity. Yet, the explanatory power of these results is not completely understood. Nevertheless, addressing multimorbidity as a complex condition might be a promising field for big data analytics. The aim of this scoping review was to evaluate whether applying big data analytics on patient data does already contribute to the treatment of multimorbid patients in general practice. ⋯ Although the usage of the phrase "Big Data" is growing rapidly, there is nearly no practical use case for big data analysis techniques in the treatment of multimorbidity in general practice yet. Furthermore, in publications addressing big data analytics, the term is rarely defined. However, possible models and algorithms to address multimorbidity in the future are already published.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Well informed physician-patient communication in consultations on back pain - study protocol of the cluster randomized GAP trial.
Back pain is one of the most frequent causes of health-related work absence. In Germany, more than 70% of adults suffer from at least one back pain episode per annum. It has strong impact on health care costs and patients' quality of life. Patients increasingly seek health information on the internet. However, judging its trustworthiness is difficult. In addition, physicians who are being confronted with this type of information often experience it to complicate the physician-patient interaction. The GAP trial aims to develop, implement and evaluate an evidence-based, easy-to-understand and trustworthy internet information portal on lower back pain to be used by general practitioners and patients during and after the consultation. Effectiveness of GAP portal use compared to routine consultation on improving communication and informedness of both physicians and patients will be assessed. In addition, effects on health care costs and patients' days of sick leave will be evaluated. ⋯ The GAP-trial intends to improve the communication between physicians and their patients and the informedness of both groups. If proven beneficial, the evidence-based and user-friendly portal will be made accessible for all patients and health professionals in back pain care. Inclusion of further indications might be implemented and evaluated in the long term.
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Patient- and family-centered care (PFCC) is increasingly linked to improved communication, care quality, and patient decision making. However, in order to consistently implement and study PFCC, health care systems and researchers need a solid evidentiary base. Most current definitions and models of PFCC are broad and conceptual, and difficult to translate into measurable behaviors and actions. This paper provides a brief overview of all actions that focus group respondents associated with PFCC in ambulatory (outpatient) care settings and then explores actions associated with the concept of "dignity and respect" in greater detail. ⋯ Our work fills a critical gap in our ability to understand and measure PFCC in ambulatory care settings by breaking down abstract concepts about PFCC into specific measurable actions. Our findings can be used to support research on how PFCC affects clinical outcomes and develop innovative tools and policies to support PFCC.
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Hospital admissions for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSC) are those that could potentially be prevented by timely and effective disease management within primary care. ACSC admissions are increasingly used as performance indicators. However, key questions remain about the validity of these measures. The evidence to date has been inconclusive and limited to specific conditions. The aim of this study was to test the robustness of ACSC admissions as indicators of the quality of primary care. It is the first study to examine a wide range of ACSCs using longitudinal data which enables us to control for unmeasured characteristics which differ by practice but which are constant over time. ⋯ The results suggest caution in the use of crude ACSC admission rates as a performance indicator of quality of primary care.
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Low back pain affects about 80% of all adults, many of whom consult general practice. Providing management can be challenging, in part due to the scarcity of effective treatment methods. There is broad consensus in international clinical practice guidelines to provide patients with information about the nature of their pain and recommend them to stay active despite discomfort. Delivering this information is time-demanding and challenged by the limited available resources in general practice in many countries. Furthermore, general practice settings are highly variable in size and in their composition of clinical staff members - which presents difficulties, but also opportunities for developing alternative approaches to clinical management. Expanding the patient consultation time by involving clinical staff members (aside from the general practitioner) has been found feasible for other conditions. We propose that this approach is applied for non-specific low back pain. Consequently, we suggest the involvement of clinical staff members as part of a new strategy for managing low back pain in general practice. ⋯ This is a pre-clinical proposal of a multifaceted strategy to support the delivery of evidence-based treatment for patients with low back pain in general practice. As an original idea, we suggest it would be feasible to involve clinical staff members in the delivery of information and advice to patients, whilst the general practitioner remains responsible for diagnostic decision-making.