The European journal of general practice
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Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is a common cause of chronic liver disease and its ensuing complications. In the last years, there has been a revolution of the treatment for patients with HCV regarding efficacy, simplicity, safety and duration of treatment. The role of the family physician is vital in all steps of care: screening, diagnosis, linkage to treatment, treatment and follow-up. ⋯ Patients without advanced fibrosis and comorbidities can be treated by the educated family physician. However, patients with comorbidities, cirrhosis or coinfection (HIV, Hepatitis B Virus (HBV)) should be referred to the liver clinic. In case of screening patients with risk factors or likelihood of dormant HCV, health organisations should provide the appropriate resources, logistics, finances and workforce.
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General practitioners (GPs) play an essential role in the sustainable management of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). To our knowledge, the healthcare programme described here is the first integrated care programme for paediatric ambulatory care embedded in GP-centred-healthcare in Germany. ⋯ Children and adolescents with ADHD enrolled in GP-centred-paediatric-primary-care are at lower risk of mental-disorder-related hospitalisation and less likely to receive stimulants.
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Little literature exists on emergencies within primary care offices. ⋯ In Germany, emergencies in primary care offices occur on average once a month and more often in rural than urban areas. While most PCPs are confident in managing medical emergencies, some differences related to the training path became apparent. Ongoing training programmes may be tailored to improve emergency skills.
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General practitioners (GPs) use safety netting advice to communicate with patients when and how to seek further help when their condition fails to improve or deteriorate. Although many respiratory tract infections (RTI) during out-of-hours (OOH) care are self-limiting, often antibiotics are prescribed. Providing safety netting advice could enable GPs to safely withhold an antibiotic prescription by dealing both with their uncertainty and the patients' concerns. ⋯ We provided a better understanding of how safety netting is currently carried out in OOH primary care for RTIs. Safety netting advice during OOH primary care is limited, unspecific and not documented in the medical record.