The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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Observational Study
Associations between general practice characteristics and chest X-ray rate: an observational study.
Chest X-ray (CXR) is the first-line test for lung cancer in many settings. Previous research has suggested that higher utilisation of CXR is associated with improved outcomes. ⋯ Substantial variation was found in CXR rates beyond that expected by chance, which could not be accounted for by practices' recorded characteristics. As other research has indicated that increasing CXR rates can lead to earlier detection, supporting practices that currently investigate infrequently could be an effective strategy to improve lung cancer outcomes.
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Risk prediction models for symptomatic patients with bladder and kidney cancer: a systematic review.
Timely diagnosis of bladder and kidney cancer is key to improving clinical outcomes. Given the challenges of early diagnosis, models incorporating clinical symptoms and signs may be helpful to primary care clinicians when triaging at-risk patients. ⋯ Models were identified that could be used in primary care to guide referrals, with potential to identify lower-risk patients with visible haematuria and to stratify individuals who present with non-visible haematuria. However, before application in general practice, external validations in appropriate populations are required.
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With a continued crisis of increasing workload and reduced workforce in general practice, supporting resilience is a key strategy for sustaining the profession into the future. ⋯ That GPs feel to improve resilience they need to work fewer clinical hours may have huge implications for a workforce already in crisis, and ultimately, for the health care of the UK population. Urgent research is needed to formulate a bespoke assessment for measuring GP resilience to assess potential interventions, and to identify GPs at risk of mental ill-health or leaving the profession.