The European journal of general practice
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There is little guidance available to healthcare practitioners about what tools they might use to assess the patient safety culture. ⋯ Two tools, one quantitative and one qualitative, were identified as applicable and useful in assessing patient safety culture in primary care settings in Europe. Safety culture indicators in primary care should focus on the processes rather than the outcomes of care.
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The systems-based management of laboratory test ordering and results handling is a known source of error in primary care settings worldwide. The consequences are wide-ranging for patients (e.g. avoidable harm or poor care experience), general practitioners (e.g. delayed clinical decision making and potential medico-legal implications) and the primary care organization (e.g. increased allocation of resources to problem-solve and dealing with complaints). Guidance is required to assist care teams to minimize associated risks and improve patient safety. ⋯ Guidance was developed for improving patient safety in this important area of primary care practice. We need to consider how this guidance can be made accessible to frontline care teams, utilized by clinical educators and improvement advisers, implemented by decision makers and evaluated to determine acceptability, feasibility and impacts on patient safety.
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Evidence based recommendations for smoking cessation are not followed in routine primary care. A better understanding is needed why smoking cessation treatment is still underutilized. ⋯ Smokers and healthcare professionals seem to wait for each other to start smoking cessation. GPs should know that they could discuss smoking cessation with every patient without jeopardizing the doctor-patient relationship, preferably followed by referral to a practice nurse for intensive behavioural support. Furthermore, more patients should know that they could receive pharmacological treatment as well as behavioural support for smoking cessation in their healthcare centre.
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Observational Study
General practitioner contribution to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest outcome: A national registry study.
There is a wide variation in reported survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). One factor in this variation may be the contribution of general practitioners to pre-hospital resuscitation. Studies using self-reported data describe increased survival proportions when general practitioners are involved. ⋯ Our analysis suggests that in this subgroup, GP participation in OHCA resuscitation attempts is associated with improved patient survival. Furthermore, resuscitation is more likely to be ceased at scene when a GP is present, highlighting the role that GPs play in the compassionate management of death in unviable circumstances.
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Unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics is a major public health concern. General practitioners (GPs) prescribe most antibiotics, often for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs), and have in general been shown to prescribe antibiotics more often to women. No studies have examined the influence of patient gender on unnecessary antibiotic prescribing. ⋯ This study indicated a high rate of unnecessary antibiotic prescribing for URTIs in general practice, but overall found no gender differences in receiving unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions.