The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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The GMC PRACtiCe study identified a 1 in 20 error rate in prescriptions issued in general practice and identified a need for further training in prescribing. As a result, an e-Learning prescribing package was designed and launched to healthcare professionals through the Royal College of General Practitioners in January 2014. ⋯ These interviews have highlighted the potential for using e-Learning for prescribing training and to achieve long-term changes in prescribing practice. However, further work is needed to generate substantive evidence of its impact on prescribing.
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Electronic media are playing a negative role in people's lives and yet people are unaware of the hazardous effect. ⋯ Screen-time of ≤1 hour does not have any detrimental associations with poor school performance.
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Continuity of care is a fading type of care because GPs are working more flexibly and at reduced working hours. The GP Contract gave a financial incentive to provide prompt GP appointments, but to the detriment of continuity of care. Increased patient demand for appointments has seemingly led to patients favouring 'any' appointment with a GP rather than 'an appointment with the same GP'. Continuity of care in general practice is associated with greater patient satisfaction and is the preferred type of care for patients with chronic disease or psychological problems. In the Northeast of England there is a multi-partner GP practice that operates a true personalised list system. Other GP practices in the area do offer a degree of continuity of care, but this has not been measured. ⋯ Continuity of care is still observed in GP practices that do not have personalised lists.
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Palliative care is an important but often overlooked component of primary care. In Myanmar, early emergence of palliative care is being seen, however no formal community-based services yet exist. Present challenges include resource scarcity and inadequate education and training. ⋯ The greatest outcome from this workshop, by far, was the enthusiasm and awareness it generated, support was even gained from the President of the Myanmar Medical Association despite his initial reservations about developing this area. Ultimately, the workshop behaved as an advocate for the introduction of a regular palliative care lecture into the local Diploma in Family Medicine curriculum; it also spurred a group of GPs to further this work and turn the workshop into a regular teaching event.
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The Scottish Government's vision for older people is that 'Older people are valued as an asset; their voices are heard and they are supported to enjoy full and positive lives.' In the health and social care setting in Scotland it is increasingly recognised that there is a need for careful planning of care for older patients with complex comorbidities, and that this should involve the patient where possible via a process of shared decision making (SDM). ⋯ Plans for decision making around resuscitation were reasonably well developed. However, planning for other, more complex, future medical care needs was less well defined or explored with older patients.