Family practice
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One role of primary care is to support people living with and beyond cancer, the number of whom is increasing worldwide. This study aimed to identify factors affecting cancer care provision within English primary care after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, during high healthcare service demand, and a depleted workforce. ⋯ The ability of primary care to deliver cancer care is affected by multiple factors at various levels. Future studies should identify the implementation strategies of local and national policies to better understand how to improve cancer care education, practice-level infrastructure, evidence-based workforce planning, and healthcare resourcing.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Using an SMS to improve bowel cancer screening: the acceptability and feasibility of a multifaceted intervention.
The Australian National Bowel Cancer Screening Program sends an immunochemical faecal occult blood test to Australians aged 50-74 years to screen for bowel cancer, but uptake is low (40.9%). The SMARTscreen trial demonstrated that sending a short messaging services (SMS) prompt from the participant's general practitioner (GP) increased the proportion of kit returns by 16.5%. This research aimed to determine the acceptability and feasibility of implementing SMARTscreen. ⋯ The SMS-based intervention was widely accepted by GP staff and participants. Future research should test the SMS with and without the weblink, and send the SMS at a more convenient time of the day/week.
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Healthcare providers often lack awareness, knowledge, and confidence in managing vulvodynia, which can lead to difficulties with diagnosis and treatment for individuals with the condition. ⋯ An online educational toolkit tailored to community-based primary care settings supports the management of patients with vulvodynia by family physicians. Our findings lay the foundation for the upscaling of this tool.
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The lack of an adequate primary care physician workforce has been a decades-long challenge facing the delivery of healthcare in the United States of America (USA). Previous research has highlighted how strengthening the nation's primary care infrastructure is a critical part of improving the nation's health. ⋯ But, little attention has been focused on how the primary care workforce may affect health disparities. This commentary highlights the importance of the provision of primary care services for populations that experience health disparities, ways that the primary care workforce shortage affects these populations, and potential solutions to expand the reach of the current workforce and to build a diverse workforce to meet the growing needs of the increasingly diverse US population.
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Meta Analysis
The benefits and harms of oral iron supplementation in non-anaemic pregnant women: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Iron deficiency during pregnancy poses a significant risk to both maternal and foetal health. Current international guidelines provide discrepant advice on antenatal iron supplementation for non-anaemic women. ⋯ Prophylactic iron supplementation likely results in a large reduction in maternal anaemia during pregnancy. Future research should qualify the impact of this benefit on women's quality of life and determine which subpopulations benefit most. Evidence surrounding the harms of iron supplementation in the non-anaemic population is poor quality and inconsistent. Randomized controlled trials quantifying the risk of gastrointestinal (GI) disturbance and iron overload are essential to inform iron supplement use and reduce unwarranted variations in international guidelines.