Articles: professional-practice.
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Annals of family medicine · Mar 2019
Primary Care Clinician Adherence to Specialist Advice in Electronic Consultation.
Electronic consultation (eConsult) services can improve access to specialist advice. Little is known, however, about whether and how often primary care clinicians adhere to the advice they receive. We evaluated how primary care clinicians use recommendations conveyed by specialists via the Champlain BASE (Building Access to Specialists through eConsultation) eConsult service and how eConsult affects clinical management of patients in primary care. ⋯ We found little evidence of barriers to implementing specialist advice with use of eConsult, which suggests recommendations given through service were actionable. With a high primary care clinician adherence to specialist recommendations and primary care clinician-to-patient communication, we conclude that eConsult delivers good-quality care and improves patient management.
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BMC medical education · Jan 2019
Transferring knowledge into practice? Exploring the feasibility of action learning for improving knowledge, skills and confidence in clinical communication skills.
Effective communication between patients and practitioners is fundamental to the delivery of high-quality care. This is particularly important in the complex and challenging nature of working in palliative and end of life care. Following specialist communication skills training, a group of healthcare professionals explored the impact of action learning (AL) on the perceptions of their knowledge, skills and confidence in communication skills. The research also aimed to establish an evidence base by exploring the nature and impact of the AL approach employed to facilitate improvements in professional practice. ⋯ The research demonstrates a positive appetite for, and experience of, the process and method. The value of such a solution-focused, critically reflexive AL practice suggests this may act as a facilitator for successful transfer of learning into practice for individuals and their organisations.
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Annals of family medicine · Jan 2019
Practice Capacity to Address Patients' Social Needs and Physician Satisfaction and Perceived Quality of Care.
Recent studies have explored clinician impacts of health care-based interventions that respond to patients' social and economic needs. These studies were limited by available clinician data. ⋯ Results suggest that perceived capacity to address social needs is strongly associated with both clinician satisfaction and perceived medical care quality. Our findings add to a growing literature on the potential return on investment of clinical interventions to address social needs.
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Optimal prescribing of secondary prevention medications after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) events has been shown to reduce morbidity and mortality. However, it is unknown whether these medications are optimally prescribed at discharge from acute care in Iraq. ⋯ Approximately one in two patients received the recommended secondary prevention therapy. However, only a minority of patients were prescribed optimal doses of ACEI/ARBs and beta-blockers, in line with guidance. Quality improvement strategies should be implemented, which may include greater involvement of pharmacists within the cardiology multidisciplinary team.