scholarly journals One-Year Results of the Think Health! Study of Weight Management in Primary Care Practices

Obesity ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 1249-1257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiriki K. Kumanyika ◽  
Jennifer E. Fassbender ◽  
David B. Sarwer ◽  
Etienne Phipps ◽  
Kelly C. Allison ◽  
...  
2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (11) ◽  
pp. 1889-1894
Author(s):  
Marcel Konrad ◽  
Jens Bohlken ◽  
Michael A Rapp ◽  
Karel Kostev

ABSTRACTBackground:The goal of this study was to estimate the prevalence of and risk factors for diagnosed depression in heart failure (HF) patients in German primary care practices.Methods:This study was a retrospective database analysis in Germany utilizing the Disease Analyzer® Database (IMS Health, Germany). The study population included 132,994 patients between 40 and 90 years of age from 1,072 primary care practices. The observation period was between 2004 and 2013. Follow-up lasted up to five years and ended in April 2015. A total of 66,497 HF patients were selected after applying exclusion criteria. The same number of 66,497 controls were chosen and were matched (1:1) to HF patients on the basis of age, sex, health insurance, depression diagnosis in the past, and follow-up duration after index date.Results:HF was a strong risk factor for diagnosed depression (p < 0.0001). A total of 10.5% of HF patients and 6.3% of matched controls developed depression after one year of follow-up (p < 0.001). Depression was documented in 28.9% of the HF group and 18.2% of the control group after the five-year follow-up (p < 0.001). Cancer, dementia, osteoporosis, stroke, and osteoarthritis were associated with a higher risk of developing depression. Male gender and private health insurance were associated with lower risk of depression.Conclusions:The risk of diagnosed depression is significantly increased in patients with HF compared to patients without HF in primary care practices in Germany.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Cottrell ◽  
Victoria Silverwood ◽  
Alex Strivens-Joyce ◽  
Lucy Minshull ◽  
John J Edwards ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Physician associates (PA) form part of the policy-driven response to increased primary care demand and a general practitioner recruitment and retention crisis. However, they are novel to the primary care workforce, have limitations such as being unable to prescribe and order ionising radiation investigations, and there are very limited directly-relevant data to guide the integration of PAs into primary care. To address this, a novel internship scheme was established in Staffordshire to support PAs entering primary care. This evaluation was designed to establish the acceptability of Physician Associate (PA) Interns within primary care.Methods: The Staffordshire PA Internship (SPAI) scheme was introduced in Staffordshire in 2017. PAs were concurrently working in primary and secondary care posts for one year, with protected weekly education sessions to equip them for work in primary care. Within the nine primary care practices hosting 10 PA interns in the first two cohorts, the PA interns, supervising GPs and practice managers, and patients who attended an appointment with a PA intern were invited to participate in the evaluation.Results: By evaluation end, eight of the ten PAs had completed the internship. Overall PA interns were acceptable to practices and patients, however there was ambiguity about the PA role itself, and how best to communicate this, as well as how to operationalise their roles. An expectation-preparedness gap was identified for PAs working in primary care. This resulted in high levels of supervision required for PA interns early within the internship. The internship provided a platform upon which the expectation-preparedness gap could be closed and made the high supervision requirements more acceptable to practices.Conclusions: This test-of-concept SPAI has highlighted that, to ensure successful integration of new PAs into primary care and to support them to reach their full potential, commitments to longer-term, sustainable, cohesive and appropriately funded schemes, including structured and standardised education and supervision, need to be delivered. Without such investment, there is a risk that acceptability of PAs in primary care, and PAs’ views of primary care careers, will be undermined before the profession has attained its full potential.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. e042052
Author(s):  
Jean-Baptiste Woods ◽  
Geva Greenfield ◽  
Azeem Majeed ◽  
Benedict Hayhoe

ObjectivesMental health disorders contribute significantly to the global burden of disease and lead to extensive strain on health systems. The integration of mental health workers into primary care has been proposed as one possible solution, but evidence of clinical and cost effectiveness of this approach is unclear. We reviewed the clinical and cost effectiveness of mental health workers colocated within primary care practices.DesignSystematic literature review.Data sourcesWe searched the Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Healthcare Management Information Consortium (HMIC) and Global Health databases.Eligibility criteriaAll quantitative studies published before July 2019 were eligible for the review; participants of any age and gender were included. Studies did not need to report a certain outcome measure or comparator in order to be eligible.Data extraction and synthesisData were extracted using a standardised table; however, pooled analysis proved unfeasible. Studies were assessed for risk of bias using the Risk Of Bias In Non-randomised Studies - of Interventions (ROBINS-I) tool and the Cochrane collaboration’s tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials.ResultsFifteen studies from four countries were included. Mental health worker integration was associated with mental health benefits to varied populations, including minority groups and those with comorbid chronic diseases. Furthermore, the interventions were correlated with high patient satisfaction and increases in specialist mental health referrals among minority populations. However, there was insufficient evidence to suggest clinical outcomes were significantly different from usual general practitioner care.ConclusionsWhile there appear to be some benefits associated with mental health worker integration in primary care practices, we found insufficient evidence to conclude that an onsite primary care mental health worker is significantly more clinically or cost effective when compared with usual general practitioner care. There should therefore be an increased emphasis on generating new evidence from clinical trials to better understand the benefits and effectiveness of mental health workers colocated within primary care practices.


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