Scandinavian journal of primary health care
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Scand J Prim Health Care · Mar 2020
How can task shifting put patient safety at risk? A qualitative study of experiences among general practitioners in Norway.
Objective: To describe experiences among general practitioners (GPs) in Norway regarding horizontal task shifting experiences associated with adverse events that potentially put patient safety at risk. Design and contributors: We conducted a qualitative study with data from a retrospective convenience sample of consecutive, already posted comments in a restricted Facebook group for GPs in Norway. The sample consisted of 43 unique posts from 38 contributors (23 women and 15 men), presenting thick and specific accounts of potentially adverse events in the context of horizontal task shifting. ⋯ GPs in Norway report adverse events related to task shifting from specialist colleagues without proper resource allocation. Patient safety may be put at risk by hazardous delay, overdiagnosis, endangered accountability and potential malpractice. Planning and implementation of task shifting must involve all system levels and relevant stakeholders to ensure patient safety.
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Scand J Prim Health Care · Mar 2020
Comparative StudyPsychosocial issues need more attention in COPD self-management education.
Objective: To find out how regularly the contents of patient education regarded as essential for COPD patients' self-management are provided by healthcare professionals in specialised healthcare (SHC) and primary healthcare (PHC) in Finland. Design: A cross-sectional study based on an e-questionnaire with 42 items on the content of self-management education of COPD patients. Setting: The study sample included all public SHC units with pulmonary outpatient clinics (n = 29) and nine out of 160 health centres in Finland. ⋯ KEY POINTSIssues vital for coping with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), such as psychological well-being, stress and fatigue, are irregularly included in self-management education both in primary and specialised healthcare. Patient education provided by asthma/COPD nurses is more regular than patient education provided by other nurses. The distribution of work between doctors and nurses should be considered to ensure that there is no gap in COPD patients' education.
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Scand J Prim Health Care · Mar 2020
The roles of healthcare professionals in diabetes care: a qualitative study in Norwegian general practice.
Objective: To explore the experiences of general practitioners (GPs), nurses and medical secretaries in providing multi-professional diabetes care and their perceptions of professional roles. Design, setting and subjects: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six GPs, three nurses and two medical secretaries from five purposively sampled diabetes teams. Interviews were analysed thematically. ⋯ KEY POINTSIt has been suggested that multi-professional approaches improve quality of care in people with long-term conditions. In this study, nurses and medical secretaries perceived to have a complementary role to general practitioners (GPs) in diabetes care, focusing on patient education, building trusting relationships and providing patients with emotional support. As multi-professional collaboration was minimal, GPs, nurses and medical secretaries in the included practices may not take full advantage of the potential of sharing care responsibility and learning with, from and about each other.