Pilot study on the feasibility and acceptability of academic detailing in general practice

2003 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilde Habraken ◽  
Isabelle Janssens ◽  
Kris Soenen ◽  
Mieke van Driel ◽  
Jaak Lannoy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Practice ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Academic Detailing

Attitudes to chlamydia screening in general practice among Australian university students: a pilot study

Sexual Health ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadette Zakher ◽  
Melissa Kang
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
General Practice ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Young People ◽  
University Students ◽  
Risk Group ◽  
Chlamydia Infection ◽  
Chlamydia Screening ◽  
Sexually Active ◽  
Sexually Transmissible Infections

Background: Chlamydia screening of sexually active young people in general practice is key to the Australian National Sexually Transmissible Infections Strategy 2005–2008. Overseas research indicates that young people have positive attitudes towards opportunistic screening by a general practitioner (GP). This pilot study aims to investigate the attitudes of Australian university students towards chlamydia screening in primary care. Methods: Students (16–25 years) attending a class in one of three faculties at the University of Sydney participated by completing a questionnaire, which collected information about demographics, sexual history, chlamydia knowledge, attitudes towards and preferences for chlamydia screening. Results: One hundred and eighty-five students (78% female) returned questionnaires (participation rate 92%). Arts students were younger, more likely to be sexually active and to report having little or no knowledge of chlamydia. Males in the study were less likely to have had sex as a group compared to the group of females in the sample. Science students were also less likely to have had sex compared to their counterparts in other faculties. Seventy-six percent of students were comfortable with opportunistic testing for chlamydia by their GP. Reasons for not being comfortable included ‘don’t think I’m at risk’ (65%) and ‘not comfortable discussing sexual matters with my GP’ (38%). Although comfortable with GP-based testing, the likelihood of being tested in the upcoming year for most students was low, as was personal concern about chlamydia infection. Conclusions: Findings suggest that the most at risk group for chlamydia infection is not well educated about their risk of infection. The limited numbers of tests among sexually active individuals in this sample indicate that health practitioners are not screening this high-risk group for chlamydia infection.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the General Practice Pharmacist (GPP) intervention to optimise prescribing in Irish primary care: a non-randomised pilot study

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. e035087
Author(s):  
Karen Cardwell ◽  
Susan M Smith ◽  
Barbara Clyne ◽  
Laura McCullagh ◽  
Emma Wallace ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
General Practice ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Medication Review ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Practice Team ◽  
Patient Reported ◽  
General Practices ◽  
Medication Changes

ObjectiveLimited evidence suggests integration of pharmacists into the general practice team could improve medicines management for patients, particularly those with multimorbidity and polypharmacy. This study aimed to develop and assess the feasibility of an intervention involving pharmacists, working within general practices, to optimise prescribing in Ireland.DesignNon-randomised pilot study.SettingPrimary care in Ireland.ParticipantsFour general practices, purposively sampled and recruited to reflect a range of practice sizes and demographic profiles.InterventionA pharmacist joined the practice team for 6 months (10 hours/week) and undertook medication reviews (face to face or chart based) for adult patients, provided prescribing advice, supported clinical audits and facilitated practice-based education.Outcome measuresAnonymised practice-level medication (eg, medication changes) and cost data were collected. Patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) data were collected on a subset of older adults (aged ≥65 years) with polypharmacy using patient questionnaires, before and 6 weeks after medication review by the pharmacist.ResultsAcross four practices, 786 patients were identified as having 1521 prescribing issues by the pharmacists. Issues relating to deprescribing medications were addressed most often by the prescriber (59.8%), compared with cost-related issues (5.8%). Medication changes made during the study equated to approximately €57 000 in cost savings assuming they persisted for 12 months. Ninety-six patients aged ≥65 years with polypharmacy were recruited from the four practices for PROM data collection and 64 (66.7%) were followed up. There were no changes in patients’ treatment burden or attitudes to deprescribing following medication review, and there were conflicting changes in patients’ self-reported quality of life.ConclusionsThis non-randomised pilot study demonstrated that an intervention involving pharmacists, working within general practices is feasible to implement and has potential to improve prescribing quality. This study provides rationale to conduct a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of this intervention.

scholarly journals Direct Pharmacist Prescribing of Emergency Contraception: Findings of an Academic Detailing Intervention Pilot Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 14-17
Author(s):  
May Nguyen ◽  
Niamh O'Grady ◽  
Sally Rafie ◽  
Sheila Mody ◽  
Marisa Hildebrand
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Emergency Contraception ◽  
Academic Detailing ◽  
Pharmacist Prescribing

Audit of referral pathways in the diagnosis of lung cancer: a pilot study

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraldine Largey ◽  
Samantha Chakraborty ◽  
Tracey Tobias ◽  
Peter Briggs ◽  
Danielle Mazza
Keyword(s):  
Lung Cancer ◽  
General Practice ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Medical Record ◽  
Multidisciplinary Team ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Private Health Sector ◽  
Diagnosis Of Lung Cancer ◽  
Medical Record Audit

This pilot study sought to describe the diagnostic pathways for patients with lung cancer and explore the feasibility of a medical record audit for this purpose. An audit of 25 medical records of patients with a confirmed diagnosis of lung cancer was conducted, at a single outer metropolitan hospital in Victoria. Patients were presented to secondary care from general practice (n = 17, 68%), the emergency department (n = 3, 12%) or specialist rooms (n = 1, 4%). Those who journeyed through general practice experienced the longest median intervals to diagnosis (20 days, interquartile range 7–47). The majority of patients (n = 15, 60%) were referred by a specialist to a multidisciplinary team after a diagnosis had been confirmed but before treatment commenced. These patients waited a median of 20 days from their first specialist appointment to a multidisciplinary team appointment. This research illustrated that a variety of pathways to diagnosis exist. Critically, it requires patient data and additional auditing of primary, public and private health sector records to determine generalisability of findings and the effectiveness of a medical record audit as a data collection tool.

scholarly journals Prospective analysis of phoned potassium results and what general practitioners do with them: a pilot study

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 710-712
Author(s):  
Jennifer S Johnstone ◽  
Michael J Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
General Practice ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Information Management ◽  
Laboratory Information Management System ◽  
Information Management System ◽  
Prospective Analysis ◽  
Out Of Hours ◽  
A Prospective Study ◽  
Laboratory Information Management

Background Communicating abnormal results to requesting clinicians is an essential part of clinical authorisation. Guidance from the Royal College of Pathologists on communication of critical/unexpected results is issued as ‘advice to pathologists’. The 2017 guidelines advise rapid communication of serum potassium results ≤2.5 mmol/L and ≥6.5 mmol/L. Little is known about what happens after the results have been communicated. We wished to establish answers to the following questions: Are phoned results acted on? If so, when? What is the outcome of any action taken? Methods A prospective study of primary care potassium results authorised out of hours was undertaken. Potassium requests from primary care were retrieved from the laboratory information management system. The potassium result was recorded, along with other data. Data were analysed for potassium results that were validated out of hours (18:00 h–08:00 h). Results Over six months, 220 potassium results <3.1 mmol/L and >5.9 mmol/L from primary care were validated out of hours. A subset of these (27) were phoned to the general practice out of hours ‘hub’, and 16 patients referred to hospital out of hours, on account of the potassium results. The remaining potassium results phoned out of hours were acted on subsequently. Conclusions Critical potassium results were phoned urgently and are acted on, although not always out of hours. For potassium results phoned out of hours, the most frequent action was to refer to hospital out of hours. Different actions occurred for similar potassium results, reflecting the fact that actions taken and their urgency depend on the patient, the clinician and the practice policy for handling results.

An international taxonomy for errors in general practice: a pilot study

2002 ◽  
Vol 177 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith A B Makeham ◽  
Mary County ◽  
Michael R Kidd ◽  
Susan M Dovey
Keyword(s):  
General Practice ◽  
Pilot Study
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