Bmc Fam Pract
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The oldest old (individuals over 90 years) are a fast-growing population. Characterizing their specificity would be helpful to adapt health care. This study aimed to characterize the cognitive, functional, nutritional, and physical status of individuals over 90. ⋯ These results suggest a heterogeneous population with a certain proportion of oldest old with a low level of disability. These findings suggest that a specific approach in the care of the oldest old could help prevent disability.
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Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) provides a framework to understand how interventions are implemented, embedded, and integrated in healthcare settings. Previous reviews of published literature have examined the application of NPT across international healthcare and reports its benefits. However, given the distinctive clinical function, organisational arrangements and the increasing management of people with a wide variety of conditions in primary care settings in the United Kingdom, it is important to understand how and why authors utilise and reflect on NPT in such settings to inform and evaluate implementation processes. ⋯ NPT provides a flexible framework for the development and evaluation of complex healthcare interventions in UK primary care settings. This review updates the literature on NPT use and indicates that its application is well suited to these environments, particularly in supporting patients with long-term conditions and co-morbidities. We recommend future research explores the receipt of interventions by multiple stakeholders and suggest that authors reflect on justifications for using NPT in their reporting.
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The informal curriculum is a seemingly well-explored concept in the realm of medical education. However, it is a concept with multiple definitions and the term "the hidden curriculum" is often used interchangeably. In short, they both refer to the implicit learning taking place outside the formal curriculum, encompassing both a trickling down effect of organizational values and attitudes passed on by a mentor or colleague. While the informal curriculum is a recurrent theme in medical education literature; it is seldom discussed in Family Medicine. As the informal curriculum is likely to be highly influential in the forming of future family practitioners, our aim was to explore the area further, with respect to the following: which elements of the informal curriculum are applicable in a Family Medicine context and what educational interventions for Family Medicine residents, visualizing the various educational elements of it, have been performed? ⋯ Important aspects of being a family practitioner, such as cultural competence and dealing with uncertainty, are learned through a context-dependent informal curriculum. In order to ensure a more uniform base for all residents and to reduce the impact of the individual supervisor's preferences, complementary formalized training would be beneficial. However, to date there are too few studies published to conclude how to best teach the informal curriculum.