The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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Clinical Trial
End-of-life planning with frail patients attending general practice: an exploratory prospective cross-sectional study.
End-of-life planning means decision making with patients, formulating and recording decisions regarding their end-of-life care. Although clearly linked with benefits including improved quality of life, reduced hospital admissions, and less aggressive medical care, it is still infrequently undertaken and is regarded as challenging by healthcare professionals. ⋯ The SPICT and Think Ahead tools were mostly acceptable, effective, and enabling of discussions on end-of-life care in general practice.
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Access to general practices may be an important determinant of emergency admissions for asthma, as early treatment of exacerbations has been shown to prevent deterioration. ⋯ Practices with higher patient-reported access had lower rates of emergency admissions for asthma. Policymakers should consider improving access to primary care as one potential way to help prevent emergency hospital admissions for asthma.
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Observational Study
Telephone triage by GPs in out-of-hours primary care in Denmark: a prospective observational study of efficiency and relevance.
In the UK, telephone triage in out-of-hours primary care is mostly managed by nurses, whereas GPs perform triage in Denmark. ⋯ Around 12% of all face-to-face consultations in the study are assessed as irrelevant by GP colleagues, suggesting that GP triage is efficient. Knowledge of the factors influencing triage can provide better education for GPs, but future studies are needed to investigate other quality aspects of GP telephone triage.