Scandinavian journal of primary health care
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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.
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Scand J Prim Health Care · Mar 2020
The function of the Norwegian municipal acute units fails to fulfill the intention of health authorities.
Objective: The aim of the study was to explore healthcare providers' perceptions of how Norwegian municipal acute units (MAUs) possibly can reduce hospital admittance and improve service integration. Method and material: Qualitative data were drawn from individual interviews with 40 healthcare providers, including general practitioners and staff in Norwegian MAUs, purchasing offices and home-based nursing services. Interview transcripts were analysed using systematic text condensation. ⋯ KEY POINTSAs of 2016, Municipal Acute Units (MAUs) are statutory healthcare services in Norway. Exploring patients' and healthcare providers' views on MAUs can improve the services. Healthcare providers disagreed on which patients were suitable for the unitsThe units were perceived as a new (healthcare) level, entailing a new collaboration arena, with more bureaucracy and time expenditureThe patients were satisfied with their treatment and care in the MAUs and the units' proximity to their home.
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Scand J Prim Health Care · Mar 2020
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative StudyLong-term effects on function, health-related quality of life and work ability after structured physiotherapy including a workplace intervention. A secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial (WorkUp) in primary care for patients with neck and/or back pain.
Objective: To study the long-term effects of a workplace intervention in addition to structured physiotherapy regarding self-reported measures in patients with acute/subacute neck and/or back pain. Design: WorkUp - a cluster-randomised controlled trial in 32 primary care centers in Sweden, from January 2013 through December 2014 (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02609750). Intervention: Structured physiotherapy with the workplace dialogue 'Convergence Dialogue Meeting' (CDM), conducted by the treating physiotherapist as an add-on. ⋯ Key pointsIn earlier analysis of the primary outcome (work ability measured by absenteeism) in this trial, a positive effect was found when the workplace intervention 'Convergence Dialogue Meeting' (CDM) was added to structured physiotherapy for patients with neck or back pain. By contrast, in this new analysis of secondary outcomes (self-reported function, health and perceived work ability), there was no added effect of CDM above structured physiotherapy alone, although patients in both the intervention and reference group improved over time. The addition of CDM to physiotherapy is therefore justified by its specific effect on behavior (work absence) rather than any effect on clinical outcomes.