The European journal of general practice
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Observational Study
Characteristics and economic burden of frequent attenders with medically unexplained symptoms in primary care in Israel.
Frequent Attenders with Medically Unexplained Symptoms (FA/MUS) are common in primary care, though challenging to identify and treat. ⋯ FA/MUS are more costly than Non-FA and exhibit unique healthcare utilisation and costs patterns. FA/OI had more severe illnesses necessitating hospitalisations and surgical interventions, while FA/MUS had more investigations and tests, attempting to find an explanation for their symptoms.
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Rotavirus is a common cause of acute gastroenteritis in young children in the Netherlands, where rotavirus vaccination has not yet been implemented. ⋯ In out-of-hours primary care, rotavirus is common but not associated with increased severity and higher referral rates in children with acute gastroenteritis.
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Healthcare complaints are an under utilised source of information for safety improvement, particularly in general practice settings. Within general practice in Ireland, complaints management is dependent on individual practice policies, with little standardisation nationally, impeding their use for safety improvement. There is a need to understand factors that contribute to unlocking the potential of complaints for safety improvement in general practice in Ireland and internationally. ⋯ There is a lot to be learned about how individuals experience complaints, however, this study adds to existing knowledge. The findings from this study can be used to tackle challenges facing complaints management in general practice, including the barriers to complaining for patients and the negative impacts of complaints on the staff, and can also help to build on positive aspects of complaints such as the desire for systemic change among interested parties.
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Despite significant evidence supporting the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in the prevention of cervical cancer, uptake of this vaccine is below target in many countries. HPV uptake in Ireland has declined from 87% in 2014-15 to 51% in 2016-17 and currently remains suboptimal at 64.1% in 2017-18. ⋯ This study suggests that significant parental concerns remain to the HPV vaccine. More comprehensive information on the research surrounding this vaccine's safety profile is required. GP's may play a pivotal role in HPV vaccination going forward.
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Role modelling is recognised as an important element in career choice. In strongly hospital-based medical education settings, students identify few primary care physicians as positive role models, which might impact their career plans and potentially contribute to primary care workforce shortage. At Geneva Faculty of Medicine (Switzerland), a compulsory final-year clerkship in primary care practices was introduced to strengthen primary care teaching in the curriculum. ⋯ Our exploratory study suggests that introducing a compulsory primary care clerkship may have contributed to increasing the visibility of primary care physicians as role models. Future research should explore primary care physicians' awareness of role modelling and its contribution to career choices.