scholarly journals Improving access to allied health professionals through the Champlain BASE™eConsult service: a cross-sectional study in Canada

2017 ◽  
Vol 67 (664) ◽  
pp. e757-e763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fanny McKellips ◽  
Erin Keely ◽  
Amir Afkham ◽  
Clare Liddy
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Allied Health ◽  
Primary Care Providers ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Allied Health Professionals ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Medical Specialties

BackgroundAllied health services are an important part of providing effective team-based care. The Champlain BASE™ (Building Access to Specialists through eConsultation) eConsult service facilitates quick and secure communication between primary care providers (PCPs) and allied health professionals (AHPs).AimTo assess the eConsult service’s ability to improve access to advice from AHPs.Design and settingA cross-sectional study was carried out on all cases submitted to AHPs through the eConsult service between April 2011 and May 2016. The service covers Ottawa, Canada, and its surrounding rural communities.MethodA descriptive overview of all cases submitted to allied health services was conducted. Utilisation and survey metrics for AHP eConsults were compared with those sent to medical specialties, in order to understand the potential differences and generalisability of eConsult access beyond the traditional medical specialty referral.ResultsPCPs submitted 127 cases to nine allied health specialties during the study period. The most popular specialty was clinical pharmacist, which received an average of 1.5 cases per month. The median specialist response time was 2.1 days (interquartile range [IQR] 0.7–5.3 days, range 0.01–14.2 days) versus 0.9 days (IQR 0.2–3.4 days, range 0–49.5 days) for medical specialties. PCPs received advice for a new or additional course of action in 70% (versus 58% for medical specialties) of cases. They rated the service as being of high or very high value for their patients in 88% of cases (versus 93% for medical specialties), and for themselves in 89% (94% for medical specialties) of cases.ConclusionThe eConsult service has demonstrated the ability to support prompt communication between PCPs and AHPs, improving patients’ access to AHP care. Given the importance of AHPs in providing primary care, allied health services should be offered in the menu of specialties available through electronic consultation services.

scholarly journals Study on the pattern of prescriptions available at rural households in Bangladesh

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-16
Author(s):  
Md Mahfuzar Rahman ◽  
Mazaherul Huq ◽  
Md Atiqur Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Allied Health Professionals ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Medical Practitioners

This was a descriptive type of cross-sectional study conducted in October, 2010, in three villages of Shahjadpur Upazila of Sirajganj district in Bangladesh. Among the rural households, those who visited medical practitioners in the last three months, were included in the study. The present study aimed to examine the pattern of prescriptions available at rural households of Bangladesh, to analyze the prescriptions whether diagnoses and/or lifestyles advice were mentioned, and to find out number of drugs and antibiotics (including their dose and duration of use) prescribed. During last three months, 68% respondents had attended a doctor's chamber; however, prescriptions were available for 57% of the respondents. More than three quarters of the prescriptions (77.6%) included 3-5 medicines, and antibiotics were prescribed to 194 (61%) respondents which constituted 21.4% of the total number of drugs prescribed. The average number of drugs and antibiotics prescribed per prescriptions was 3.8 and 1.3 respectively. Only about 23% of the respondents received antibiotics for 3-6 days, 30% for 2 days, and 46% for one day. Advice on lifestyles and diagnoses were mentioned only to 32% and 52% prescriptions respectively. The study also found that 22.6% of the prescriptions were made by unqualified doctors. Specific programs should be implemented to motivate and train medical students, practitioners and allied health professionals to provide rational prescriptions to the consumers in regards to the number of drugs as well as clarity of instructions given in the prescriptions.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/seajph.v1i1.13207 South East Asia Journal of Public Health 2011:1:12-16

scholarly journals Drivers and strategies for avoiding overuse. A cross-sectional study to explore the experience of Spanish primary care providers handling uncertainty and patients’ requests

BMJ Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. e021339 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Joaquín Mira ◽  
Irene Carrillo ◽  
Carmen Silvestre ◽  
Pastora Pérez-Pérez ◽  
Cristina Nebot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Primary Care Providers ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional

scholarly journals Determinants of timely access to Specialized Mental Health Services and maintenance of a link with Primary Care: A cross-sectional study.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Alberto dos Santos Treichel ◽  
Ioannis Bakolis ◽  
Rosana Teresa Onocko-Campos
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Waiting Times ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Timely Access ◽  
Specialized Mental Health

Abstract Background: Although it is known that several factors may influence the access to specialized care, the factors related to the maintenance of a link with Primary Care by patients who accessed Specialized Mental Health Services (SMHS) remain unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the determinants of timely access to SMHS and maintenance of a link with Primary Care. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, conducted with 341 users of SMHS at outpatient and community level in a medium-sized city in Brazil. Associations between the outcomes and the other variables were explored with the use of Poisson regression models with robust variance estimators. Results: Among the factors associated with the study outcomes, those related to the organization of services and the movement between them were noteworthy. Patients referred by Primary Care were less likely to access specialized services in a timely manner (RR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.40, 0.93). However, the referral of cases by Primary Care (RR: 1.38; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.79) and follow-up with visits by Community Health Agents (RR: 1.26; 95% CI: 1.04, 1.53) appeared to favor maintenance of the patient-Primary Care link. Conclusion: This study reinforces the idea that integration between Primary Care and SMHS should be strengthened, both to reduce waiting times for between-service referrals and benefit continuity of care.

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