Family Practice

BACKGROUND: Estimates on the incidence rates of infections are needed to assess the burden of disease in the community. OBJECTIVE: To assess incidence rates of potentially serious infections in patients aged 65 years and over presenting to Flemish general practice from 2000 to 2015, and to describe patient characteristics. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study, based on data provided by the Intego morbidity registry of the KU Leuven, which includes the electronic medical records of 111 general practitioners...

BACKGROUND: Despite various anti-smoking policies, the smoking rate in adults is still high in Korea. Doctors' advice is known to increase the smoking cessation success rate. However, few studies have reported the effect of having a usual source of care (USC) on receiving smoking cessation advice. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of USC on receiving smoking cessation advice. METHODS: We performed multiple panel logistic regression analyses to identify the effect of having a USC on the rate of receiving a doctor's smoking cessation advice using 2009, 2012 and 2013 datasets from the Korea Health Panel database...

BACKGROUND: Patient enablement is a core tenet of patient-centred and holistic primary care. The Patient Enablement Instrument (PEI) is a transitional measure limited in its ability to measure changes over time. A modified version, PEI-2, has been developed to measure enablement at a given time-point without comparison to a recalled baseline. OBJECTIVE: To assess the validity, reliability, sensitivity and responsiveness of PEI-2. METHODS: PEI-2 was modified from the Chinese PEI to assess enablement over 4 weeks in a prospective cohort study nested within a community support programme [Trekkers Family Enhancement Scheme (TFES)] in Hong Kong...

BACKGROUND: Engaging in unhealthy behaviours [poor diet, insufficient physical activity (PA)] increases risk for recurrent stroke and can be compounded by obesity and diabetes, but the association of obesity and diabetes with poor diet and insufficient PA in stroke survivors is unknown. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare prevalences of low fruit and vegetable consumption (low FV consumption, <1 fruit and <1 vegetable daily) and low physical activity (low PA, <150 minutes of weekly moderate-intensity PA) in stroke survivors, stratified by obesity-diabetes status (neither condition, obesity only, diabetes only, both conditions)...

BACKGROUND: mHealth apps potentially improve health care delivery and patient outcomes, but the uptake of mHealth in primary care is challenging, especially in low-middle-income countries. OBJECTIVE: To measure factors associated with mHealth adoption among primary care physicians (PCPs) in Malaysia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted among PCPs. The usage of mHealth apps by the PCPs has divided into the use of mHealth apps to support PCPs' clinical work and recommendation of mHealth apps for patient's use...

BACKGROUND: A healthy couple relationship is a predictor of good health. There is a lack of knowledge about what role family and couples counselling should have in general practice. OBJECTIVES: To identify the prevalence of patients who have talked, or want to talk, with their general practitioner (GP) about their couple relationship, to investigate what characterizes these patients and to explore whether they believe that couple relationship problems should be dealt with in general practice...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Remission of Type 2 diabetes is achievable through dietary change and weight loss. In the UK, lifestyle advice and referrals to weight loss programmes predominantly occur in primary care where most Type 2 diabetes is managed. OBJECTIVE: To quantify the association between primary care experience and remission of Type 2 diabetes over 5-year follow-up. METHODS: A prospective cohort study of adults with Type 2 diabetes registered to 49 general practices in the East of England, UK...

INTRODUCTION: Evidence suggests that a better understanding of determinants of antenatal care (ANC) utilization is crucial to reducing maternal and child deaths. Little is known about the utilization of ANC services in Guinea. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore factors determining utilization of skilled ANC in Guinea. METHODS: This study focused on a sample of 7812 ever married women. Using multivariate logistic regression, factors associated with the utilization of ANC were identified...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Palpitations are a common presentation in primary care. Guidelines have been developed to identify patients with palpitations who require further assessment by a cardiologist in secondary care. However, patients that do not meet guideline thresholds for referrals are still referred to secondary care services. This audit evaluated the adherence to referral guidelines at our trust and assessed the characteristics of patients who were referred appropriately versus those referred without meeting guideline referral thresholds (inappropriate referral)...

BACKGROUND: There is still a lack of evidence focusing on primary care supply in developing countries where the educational achievement of primary care practitioners is relatively low. OBJECTIVES: By using a nationally representative longitudinal and prospective cohort study, this study examined whether primary care supply, measured by the availability and the number of community health centres (CHCs), was associated with 4-year mortality risk among community-dwelling participants aged 45 and above in urban China...

BACKGROUND: There is a scarcity of information about patients with mild or moderate symptoms during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This is especially true for those who attended and were followed up at primary care settings. OBJECTIVES: We aim to measure the seroprevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 infection in a community sample of possible cases and among probable cases followed in primary care. METHODS: We selected a random sample of 600 individuals stratified by age groups from a total population of 19 899 individuals from a community area in Barcelona...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: In South Africa, there is a need to clarify the human resources for health policy on family physicians (FPs) and to ensure that the educational and health systems are well aligned in terms of the production and employment of FPs. OBJECTIVE: To analyse the human resource situation with regard to family medicine in South Africa and evaluate the requirements for the future. METHODS: A retrospective review of the Health Professions Council of South Africa's (HPCSA) database on registered family medicine practitioners from 2002 until 2019...

BACKGROUND: Few studies have been conducted on the application of specific and practical methods, such as interventions, for reducing the unmet health care needs (UHCN) of disabled people. OBJECTIVES: The study aims to evaluate the impact of the team-based primary care program (TPCP) for disabled people on UHCN. METHOD: In 2017, we surveyed 696 disabled people who were enrolled in the TPCP at one of the 11 institutions belonging to the Korea Health Welfare Social Cooperative Federation from 2015 to 2017 to assess their unmet needs before and after enrolment...

BACKGROUND: The understanding of health care providers' experiences involved in malnutrition treatment is a key component that should be explored. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aimed to explore the views and perceptions of community health care providers related to malnutrition and its management for older adults, through synthesizing the qualitative studies. METHODS: Six electronic databases were used to search relevant articles. Qualitative research synthesis using Sandelowski and Barroso's method and thematic synthesis were used to broaden the range of methodology in this study...

BACKGROUND: In recent years, the Chinese government has introduced a new system called the integrated health care system to deepen health care reform and enhance the capacity of the primary health care services. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the perceptions and opinions of general practitioners (GPs) on the integrated health care system. METHODS: A cross-sectional investigation involving 764 GPs in Hubei province of China was conducted...

BACKGROUND: Physicians are often dissatisfied with their own medical care. Self-prescribing is common despite established guidelines that discourage this practice. From a pilot study, we know primary care physicians' (PCP) preferences, but we lack information regarding other specialties and work places. OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study was to examine whether physicians are satisfied with their personal primary care and how this could be improved. METHODS: We distributed an electronic survey to all physicians registered with the Israeli Medical Association...

BACKGROUND: Point-of-care ultrasonography (PoCUS) is increasingly used across the medical field. PoCUS is also being implemented in general practice despite a lack of clinical guidelines and training programs for general practitioners (GPs). OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to elucidate the employment of PoCUS by Danish GPs following a short training program. METHODS: Thirty GPs were enrolled in a short ultrasound training program and taught how to perform 22 selected scanning modalities...