1,721,649 research outputs found
Electronic consultation in primary care between providers and patients: systematic Review
No full textBackground: Governments and health care providers are keen to find innovative ways to deliver care more efficiently. Interest in electronic consultation (e-consultation) has grown, but the evidence of benefit is uncertain.Objective: this study aimed to assess the evidence of delivering e-consultation using secure email and messaging or video links in primary care.Methods: a systematic review was conducted on the use and application of e-consultations in primary care. We searched 7 international databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, EconLit, and Web of Science; 1999-2017), identifying 52 relevant studies. Papers were screened against a detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria. Independent dual data extraction was conducted and assessed for quality. The resulting evidence was synthesized using thematic analysis.Results: this review included 57 studies from a range of countries, mainly the United States (n=30) and the United Kingdom (n=13). There were disparities in uptake and utilization toward more use by younger, employed adults. Patient responses to e-consultation were mixed. Patients reported satisfaction with services and improved self-care, communication, and engagement with clinicians. Evidence for the acceptability and ease of use was strong, especially for those with long-term conditions and patients located in remote regions. However, patients were concerned about the privacy and security of their data. For primary health care staff, e-consultation delivers challenges around time management, having the correct technological infrastructure, whether it offers a comparable standard of clinical quality, and whether it improves health outcomes.Conclusions: E-consultations may improve aspects of care delivery, but the small scale of many of the studies and low adoption rates leave unanswered questions about usage, quality, cost, and sustainability. We need to improve e-consultation implementation, demonstrate how e-consultations will not increase disparities in access, provide better reassurance to patients about privacy, and incorporate e-consultation as part of a manageable clinical workflow
Outcome measurement in adult auditory rehabilitation: a scoping review of measures used in randomized controlled trials
No full textObjectives: This review documented the range and nature of reported outcome measures in the context of adult auditory rehabilitative research.Design: A scoping review conducted as a part of the development of a systematic review of the effect of interventions to improve hearing aid use. The authors searched the Cochrane Ear, Nose and Throat Disorders Group Trials Register; the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials; PubMed; EMBASE; CINAHL; Web of Science; Cambridge Scientific Abstracts; ICTRP; and additional sources for published and unpublished randomized control trials. The date of the search was November 6, 2013. Outcomes were grouped using a framework suggested by the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organization of Care group.Results: Patient outcomes included adherence to hearing aid use, daily hours of aid use, hearing handicap, hearing aid benefit, quality of life, and communication and psychological outcome. Satisfaction and speech perception were frequent secondary outcomes. There was diversity in measures used to report patient outcomes. Outcome categories other than patient health status and behavior were rarely reported. The timing of outcome measurement was often short term (<12 weeks), with a relative lack of evidence on long-term outcomes (>1 year).Conclusions: This review has highlighted considerable diversity in patient-reported outcome measurements in randomized control trials in the context of adult auditory rehabilitation. In addition, there are gaps in the literature with respect to measurement of other outcome types of potential interest to stakeholders, including policymakers and commissioners. Long-term outcome assessment is rare
Current process in hearing-aid fitting appointments: an analysis of audiologists’ use of behaviour change techniques using the behaviour change technique taxonomy
Full text linkObjectives: to observe and analyse the range and nature of behaviour change techniques (BCTs) employed by audiologists during hearing-aid fitting consultations to encourage and enable hearing-aid use. Design: non-participant observation and qualitative thematic analysis using the behaviour change technique taxonomy (version 1) (BCTTv1). Study sample: Ten consultations across five English NHS audiology departments. Results: audiologists engage in behaviours to ensure the hearing-aid is fitted to prescription and is comfortable to wear. They provide information, equipment, and training in how to use a hearing-aid including changing batteries, cleaning, and maintenance. There is scope for audiologists to use additional BCTs: collaborating with patients to develop a behavioural plan for hearing-aid use that includes goal-setting, action-planning and problem-solving; involving significant others; providing information on the benefits of hearing-aid use or the consequences of non-use and giving advice about using prompts/cues for hearing-aid use. Conclusions: this observational study of audiologist behaviour in hearing-aid fitting consultations has identified opportunities to use additional behaviour change techniques that might encourage hearing-aid use. This information defines potential intervention targets for further research with the aim of improving hearing-aid use amongst adults with acquired hearing los
Perceptions of risk may explain the discrepancy between patient and clinician-recorded symptoms
No full textFeasibility of Point-of-Care testing for influenza within a national primary care sentinel surveillance network in England: protocol for a mixed methods study
No full textBackground: Point-of-care testing (POCT) for influenza promises to provide real-time information to influence clinical decisionmaking and improve patient outcomes. Public Health England has published a toolkit to assist implementation of these tests inthe UK National Health Service.Objective: A feasibility study will be undertaken to assess the implementation of influenza POCT in primary care as part of asentinel surveillance network.Methods: we will conduct a mixed methods study to compare the sampling rates in practices using POCT and current virologyswabbing practices not using POCT, and to understand the issues and barriers to implementation of influenza POCT in primarycare workflows. The study will take place between March and May 2019. It will be nested in general practices that are part ofthe English national sentinel surveillance network run by the Royal College of General Practitioners Research and SurveillanceCentre. The primary outcome is the number of valid influenza swabs taken and tested by the practices involved in the study usingthe new POCT.Results: a total of 6 practices were recruited, and data collection commenced on March 11, 2019. Moreover, 312 swab sampleshad been collected at the time of submission of the protocol, which was 32.5% (312/960) of the expected sample size. In addition,68 samples were positive for influenza, which was 20.1% (68/338) of the expected sample size.Conclusions: to the best of our knowledge, this is the first time an evaluation study has been undertaken on POCT for influenzain general practice in the United Kingdom. This proposed study promises to shed light on the feasibility of implementation ofPOCT in primary care and on the views of practitioners about the use of influenza POCT in primary care, including its impacton primary care workflow
Referral for psychological therapy of people with long term conditions improves adherence to antidepressants and reduces emergency department attendance: controlled before and after study
No full textBackground: referral to psychological therapies is recommended for people with common mental health problems (CMHP) however its impact on healthcare utilisation in people with long term conditions (LTCs) is not known.Method: routinely collected primary care, psychological therapy clinic and hospital data were extracted for the registered population of 20 practices (N = 121199). These data were linked using the SAPREL (Secure and Private Record Linkage) method. We linked the 1118 people referred to psychological therapies with 6711 controls, matched for age, gender and practice. We compared utilisation of healthcare resources by people with LTCs, 6 months before and after referral, and conducted a controlled before and after study to compare health utilisation with controls. We made the assumption that collection of a greater number of repeat prescriptions for antidepressants was associated with greater adherence.Results: overall 21.8% of people with an LTC had CMHP vs. 18.8% without (p < 0.001). People with LTCs before referral were more likely to use health care resources (2-tailed t-test p < 0.001). Cases with LTCs showed referral to the psychological therapies clinic was associated with increased antidepressant medication prescribing (mean differences 0.62, p < 0.001) and less use of emergency department than controls (mean difference ?0.21, p = 0.003).Conclusions: referral to improved access to psychological therapies (IAPT) services appears of value to people with LTC. It is associated with the issue of a greater number of prescriptions for anti-depressant medicines and less use of emergency services. Further studies are needed to explore bed occupancy and outpatient attendanc
Depression and anxiety during and after episodes of COVID-19 in the community
Full text linkAbstract Understanding the connection between physical and mental health with evidence-based research is important to inform and support targeted screening and early treatment. The objective of this study was to document the co-occurrence of physical and mental health conditions during and after the experience of symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 illness episodes. Drawing from a national symptoms' surveillance survey conducted in the UK in 2020, this study shows that individuals with symptomatic forms of SARS-CoV-2 (identified by anosmia with either fever, breathlessness or cough) presented significantly higher odds of experiencing moderate and severe anxiety (2.41, CI 2.01–2.90) and depression (3.64, CI 3.06–4.32). Respondents who recovered from physical SARS-CoV-2 symptoms also experienced higher odds of anxiety and depression in comparison to respondents who never experienced symptoms. The findings are robust to alternative estimation models that compare individuals with the same socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and who experienced the same local and contextual factors such as mobility and social restrictions. The findings have important implications for the screening and detection of mental health disorders in primary care settings. They also suggest the need to design and test interventions to address mental health during and after physical illness episodes
Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 episodes and health-related quality of life
Full text linkBackground
Understanding the physical and mental health needs of the population through evidence-based research is a priority for informing health policy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, population wellbeing dramatically dropped. The relationship between experiences of symptomatic illness episodes and health-related quality of life has been less documented.
Objective
This study analysed the association between symptomatic COVID-19 illness and health-related quality of life.
Methods
The analyses drew from a cross-sectional analysis of data from a national digital symptoms’ surveillance survey conducted in the UK in 2020. We identified illness episodes using symptoms and test results data and we analysed validated health-related quality of life outcomes including health utility scores (indexed on a 0–1 cardinal scale) and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores (0–100 scale) generated by the EuroQoL’s EQ-5D-5L measure. The econometric model controlled for respondents’ demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, comorbidities, social isolation measures, and regional and time fixed effects.
Results
The results showed that the experience of common SARS-CoV-2 symptoms was significantly associated with poorer health-related quality of life across all EQ-5D-5L dimensions of mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression, a decrement in utility score of − 0.13 and a decrement in the EQ-VAS score of − 15. The findings were robust to sensitivity analyses and restrictive test results-based definitions.
Conclusion
This evidence-based study highlights the need for targeting of interventions and services towards those experiencing symptomatic episodes during future waves of the pandemic and helps to quantify the benefits of SARS-CoV-2 treatment in terms of health-related quality of life
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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