The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the NHS is facing increasing pressures because of growing patient demand and hospital backlogs. With the number of GPs declining, the average number of patients per GP has increased. There are reports of hospital trusts and GP practices introducing doctors' assistants (DAs) to help with clinical and administrative tasks, which has reduced the workload of doctors. As the authors are not aware of any DAs working with GPs locally, Maylands Healthcare (14 000 patients) has introduced this new workforce model by assigning a DA to each clinician's worklist. ⋯ This study demonstrates that the introduction of DAs has helped to manage the administrative workload in primary care, improving efficiency, patient care, and safety.
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App-based treatment for female urinary incontinence (UI) is a cost-effective alternative to care as usual. For successful implementation it is of major importance to involve stakeholders like care providers. ⋯ Our results add to the existing knowledge about eHealth-related barriers and facilitators. These findings can be used to optimise implementation strategies for other apps and to enhance the uptake of app-based treatment for UI in the Netherlands.
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A polygenic risk score (PRS) quantifies the aggregated effects of common genetic variants in an individual. A 'personalised breast cancer risk assessment' combines PRS with other genetic and non-genetic risk factors to offer risk-stratified screening and interventions. Large-scale studies are evaluating the clinical utility and feasibility of implementing risk-stratified screening; however, GPs' views remain largely unknown. ⋯ The results suggest limited knowledge of PRS and risk-stratified screening among GPs. Training - preferably using online learning formats - was identified as the top priority for future implementation. GPs felt positive about the potential impact of risk-stratified screening; however, there was hesitance and disagreement towards a low-risk screening pathway.
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Medication reviews are considered an opportunity for reducing polypharmacy. However, there is little evidence about their impact in a real-world setting. ⋯ Although a majority (>50%) of people had a recorded medication review in 2019, these reviews had a small overall impact on polypharmacy in this study population.
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Google searches represent a snapshot of the world's interest in different topics and are reflected by Google Trends (GT). GT has gained recent popularity across various areas of healthcare research of interest to GPs, such as the seasonality of particular physical symptoms and population-level suicide risk. As a real-time data source, GT is appealing to healthcare researchers, but whether it has a place in primary care research remains largely unaddressed. ⋯ GT is an accessible and vast data source. This study demonstrated the potential for GT to play a role in researching health behaviours. However, this study also revealed key limitations of GT, and caution should be exercised by primary care researchers and GPs when using GT for research.