The European journal of general practice
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Most COVID-19 patients were treated in primary health care (PHC) in Europe. ⋯ In Europe PHC participated in many steps to diagnose, treat and monitor COVID-19 patients. Differences among countries might be addressed at European level for the management of future pandemics.
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Efforts to contain the SARS-CoV-2 virus would fall short without strong primary health care. ⋯ Our study showed that, despite unprepared primary care and undefined roles of family physicians in pandemic planning, family physicians played a significant role in pandemic management.
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The clinical learning environment is important in GP specialty training and impacts professional development. Uniquely for GP trainees, about half of their training periods occur in a hospital environment, which is not their final workplace. There is still little understanding of how hospital-based training influences GP's professional development. ⋯ This novel study highlights how hospital placements for GP trainees could be enhanced. Further study could be broadened to recently qualified GPs, which may uncover new areas of interest.
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Cancer preventive services (gynaecological cancer screening, colon cancer screening) and cardiometabolic screening are recommended by guidelines to individuals. People with diabetes were less likely to receive them than those without diabetes in some studies. ⋯ People with diabetes reported higher coverage of preventive services except gynaecological cancer screening. Disparities were found in diabetes among women and less affluent individuals.
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eHealth offers opportunities to improve health and healthcare systems and overcome primary care challenges in low-resource settings (LRS). LRS has been typically associated with low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), but they can be found in high-income countries (HIC) when human, physical or financial resources are constrained. Adopting a concept of LRS that applies to LMIC and HIC can facilitate knowledge interchange between eHealth initiatives while improving healthcare provision for socioeconomically disadvantaged groups across the globe. ⋯ The case studies illustrate eHealth's potential to improve the provision of healthcare by i) improving the delivery of healthcare (using AI-generated chats); ii) supporting the workforce (using telemedicine platforms); iii) strengthening the healthcare information system (through patient-centred healthcare information systems), and iv) improving system-related elements of healthcare (through a mobile health financing platform). Nevertheless, we found that development and implementation are hindered by user-related, technical, financial, regulatory and evaluation challenges. We formulated six recommendations to help anticipate or overcome these challenges: 1) evaluate eHealth's appropriateness, 2) know the end users, 3) establish evaluation methods, 4) prioritise the human component, 5) profit from collaborations, ensure sustainable financing and local ownership, 6) and contextualise and evaluate the implementation strategies.