scholarly journals Co-Administration of PPV23 and Influenza Vaccines in England and Wales: A Study Based on the Royal College of General Practitioners Sentinel Surveillance Network

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 043-049
Author(s):  
Selya-Hammer Carl ◽  
Fleming Douglas ◽  
Jiang Yiling ◽  
Durnall Hayley ◽  
Keeping Sam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Practitioners ◽  
Royal College ◽  
Sentinel Surveillance ◽  
Influenza Vaccines ◽  
Surveillance Network ◽  
England And Wales

scholarly journals Lessons from 40 years' surveillance of influenza in England and Wales

2007 ◽  
Vol 136 (7) ◽  
pp. 866-875 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. M. FLEMING ◽  
A. J. ELLIOT
Keyword(s):  
Influenza Virus ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Hospital Admissions ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Influenza Virus Infection ◽  
Respiratory Illness ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Surveillance Network ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Syncytial Virus

SUMMARYThe influenza virus continues to pose a significant threat to public health throughout the world. Current avian influenza outbreaks in humans have heightened the need for improved surveillance and planning. Despite recent advances in the development of vaccines and antiviral drugs, seasonal epidemics of influenza continue to contribute significantly to general practitioner workloads, emergency hospital admissions, and deaths. In this paper we review data produced by the Royal College of General Practitioners Weekly Returns Service, a sentinel general practice surveillance network that has been in operation for over 40 years in England and Wales. We show a gradually decreasing trend in the incidence of respiratory illness associated with influenza virus infection (influenza-like illness; ILI) over the 40 years and speculate that there are limits to how far an existing virus can drift and yet produce substantial new epidemics. The burden of disease caused by influenza presented to general practitioners varies considerably by age in each winter. In the pandemic winter of 1969/70 persons of working age were most severely affected; in the serious influenza epidemic of 1989/90 children were particularly affected; in the millennium winter (in which the NHS was severely stretched) ILI was almost confined to adults, especially the elderly. Serious confounders from infections due to respiratory syncytial virus are discussed, especially in relation to assessing influenza vaccine effectiveness. Increasing pressure on hospitals during epidemic periods are shown and are attributed to changing patterns of health-care delivery.

scholarly journals Physical activity counselling in Ireland: a survey of doctors’ knowledge, attitudes and self-reported practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. e000572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah O'Brien ◽  
Lucia Prihodova ◽  
Mairéad Heffron ◽  
Peter Wright
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Royal College ◽  
Patient Preference ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Pharmaceutical Intervention ◽  
And Training ◽  
Do So

ObjectivePhysical activity (PA) counselling has been shown to raise awareness of the importance of PA and to increase the rate of PA engagement among patients. While much attention has been paid to examining the knowledge, attitudes and practice of general practitioners in relation to PA counselling, there is less literature examining such issues in hospital-based doctors in Ireland and further afield. This study aimed to explore doctors’ PA counselling practices and to analyse how this related to their level of PA knowledge, training and attitudes.MethodsAn invitation to participate in an online survey was sent to 4692 members of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland who were listed as having an address in Ireland. Descriptive and explorative analyses of the data were performed using IBM SPSS V.22.0.ResultsA total of 595 valid responses were included (response rate 12.7%; 42.7% male, 42.6±12.1 years). The majority reported enquiring about PA levels (88.0%) and providing PA counselling (86.4%) in at least some of their patients. Doctors who saw it as their role and those who felt more effective/confident in providing PA counselling were significantly more likely to do so. A perceived lack of patient interest in PA and patient preference for pharmaceutical intervention were significant barriers to undertaking PA counselling.ConclusionThis study demonstrates the need for further education and training in PA counselling in Ireland with a particular focus on improving the attitudes and self-efficacy of doctors in this area at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

scholarly journals Adult obesity prevalence in primary care users: An exploration using Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN) data

2015 ◽  
Vol 106 (5) ◽  
pp. e283-e289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alanna V. Rigobon ◽  
Richard Birtwhistle ◽  
Shahriar Khan ◽  
David Barber ◽  
Suzanne Biro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Sentinel Surveillance ◽  
Obesity Prevalence ◽  
Adult Obesity ◽  
Surveillance Network

scholarly journals A Five-Year Study of Influenza in Families Joint Public Health Laboratory Service/Royal College of General Practitioners Working Group

1981 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. G. Mann ◽  
M. S. Pereira ◽  
J. W. G. Smith ◽  
R. J. C. Hart ◽  
W. O. Williams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Royal College ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Virus Isolation ◽  
Collaborative Study ◽  
Influenza Viruses ◽  
Public Health Laboratory ◽  
Laboratory Service ◽  
Before And After

SummaryA five year collaborative study of influenza in volunteer families from 1973–78 covered a period in which there were outbreaks every year but no major epidemics of influenza. Volunteers over the age of 15 years were bled before and after each of the five winters, and virus isolation was attempted from as many as possible when they reported episodes of illness. Children under 15 in the volunteer families were also swabbed when they were ill. Although most families experienced one or more attacks by influenza viruses, there was little transmission within families.

scholarly journals Early-warning health and process indicators for sentinel surveillance in Madagascar 2007-2011

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Soatiana Rajatonirina ◽  
Fanjasoa Rakatomanana ◽  
Laurence Randrianasolo ◽  
Norosoa Harline Razanajatovo ◽  
Soa Fy Andriamandimby ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Warning ◽  
Sentinel Surveillance ◽  
Warning Sign ◽  
Surveillance Network ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Process Indicators ◽  
Spatiotemporal Trends ◽  
Mobile Telephones ◽  
Early Warning Sign ◽  
Primary Health Centres

Background: Epidemics pose major threats in resource-poor countries, and surveillance tools for their early detection and response are often inadequate. In 2007, a sentinel surveillance system was established in Madagascar, with the aim of rapidly identifying potential epidemics of febrile or diarrhoeal syndromes and issuing alerts. We present the health and process indicators for the five years during which this system was constructed, showing the spatiotemporal trends, early-warning sign detection capability and process evaluation through timely analyses of high-quality data.Methods: The Malagasy sentinel surveillance network is currently based on data for fever and diarrhoeal syndromes collected from 34 primary health centres and reported daily via the transmission of short messages from mobile telephones. Data are analysed daily at the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar to make it possible to issue alerts more rapidly, and integrated process indicators (timeliness, data quality) are used to monitor the system.Results: From 2007 to 2011, 917,798 visits were reported. Febrile syndromes accounted for about 11% of visits annually, but the trends observed differed between years and sentinel sites. From 2007 to 2011, 21 epidemic alerts were confirmed. However, delays in data transmission were observed (88% transmitted within 24 hours in 2008; 67% in 2011) and the percentage of forms transmitted each week for validity control decreased from 99.9% in 2007 to 63.5% in 2011.Conclusion: A sentinel surveillance scheme should take into account both epidemiological and process indicators. It must also be governed by the main purpose of the surveillance and by local factors, such as the motivation of healthcare workers and telecommunication infrastructure. Permanent evaluation indicators are required for regular improvement of the system. 

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