Bmc Fam Pract
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The National Health Insurance Administration of Taiwan has introduced several pay-for-performance programs to improve the quality of healthcare. This study aimed to provide government with evidence-based research findings to help primary care physicians to actively engage in pay-for-performance programs. ⋯ To better motivate family physicians into P4P participation, hosting effective training programs, developing a more transparent formula for assessing financial risk, providing sufficient budget for healthcare quality improvement, and designing a reasonable profit-sharing plan to promote collaboration between different levels of medical institutions are all imperative.
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The oldest old (individuals over 90 years) are a fast-growing population. Characterizing their specificity would be helpful to adapt health care. This study aimed to characterize the cognitive, functional, nutritional, and physical status of individuals over 90. ⋯ These results suggest a heterogeneous population with a certain proportion of oldest old with a low level of disability. These findings suggest that a specific approach in the care of the oldest old could help prevent disability.
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To evaluate the efficacy of a multidisciplinary vocational programme in sick-listed, primary health care patients as compared to matched non-programme patients. ⋯ No positive significant effects of the rehabilitation programme on time to sick leave conclusion were found.
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Throat pain is a common complaint in the ambulatory setting. Diagnosis of group A Streptococcus is made with a culture, molecular test or a rapid antigen detection test from the tonsils or the posterior pharyngeal wall, while other areas of the oral cavity are considered unacceptable. The purpose of the study is to compare cultures from the tonsils or posterior pharyngeal wall (throat) with cultures from the oral cavity (mouth). ⋯ Our study demonstrated higher sensitivity of mouth culture for GAS than previously published. This finding suggests that areas of the oral cavity that were considered as unacceptable sites for culture of GAS pharyngitis may be considered as acceptable swabbing sites.
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More and more family physicians (FPs) are using point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) in Europe. Still, there is no general consensus about the specific knowledge and skills that a FP should acquire in order to effectively perform POCUS. The objective of this study was to identify indications for the use of POCUS among FPs, explore the barriers of its use and provide an expert opinion of FPs on knowledge and skills required to effectively implement POCUS in family practice. ⋯ This study proves that although POCUS is used in family practice for a wide variety of indications with a significant number of barriers, there is a strong consensus on what a FP needs to know to effectively perform POCUS.