Delayed diagnosis and missed opportunities in the early detection of atrial fibrillation: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: We analysed the frequency of atrial fibrillation (AF) delayed diagnosis and the factors associated with it in newly diagnosed patients.

Methods: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional, multicentre study. Data were collected from newly diagnosed patients with AF through medical records review and interviews during cardiology, internal medicine, primary care and emergency department consultations in Spain.

Indicators to evaluate quality of care in head and neck cancer in Spain.

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a set of criteria and indicators to evaluate the quality of care of patients with head and neck cancer (HNC).

Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted to identify valuable criteria/indicators for the assessment of the quality of care in HNC. With the aid of a technical group, a scientific committee of oncologists specialised in HNC used selected criteria to propose indicators that were evaluated with a two-round Delphi method.

Health state perception of people close to retirement age: Relationship with lifestyle habits and subjects' characteristics.

Aim: Societal ageing increases the need for correct and healthy ageing to ensure the well-being of older adults. Practical strategies are needed to acquire healthy habits for the ageing process. This study aims to analyse the lifestyle habits of subjects who are retired or close to retirement and identify factors that could influence their perceived health and that could be related to these habits.

Dopamine agonist therapy in Parkinson's disease: Spanish expert consensus on its use in different clinical situations.

Background: Different types of therapies were proven effective for the medical management of motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD). We aimed to gain consensus on the dopamine agonist (DA) therapy use in different clinical scenarios of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients.

Methods: This consensus study was based on the nominal group technique.

A Multifaceted Educational Intervention in the Doctor-Patient Relationship for Medical Students to Incorporate Patient Agendas in Simulated Encounters.

From the beginning of their clinical training, medical students demonstrate difficulties when incorporating patient perspectives. This study aimed to assess if students, after an instructional programme, increased their sensitivity towards patients' needs and carried out bidirectional conversations. An observational study involving 109 medical students prior to their clerkships was designed.

Spirituality in Critical Care: An Observational Study of the Perceptions of Professionals, Patients and Families, in Spain and Latin America.

This research aims to describe the perspectives of health care professionals, patients, and family members regarding spiritual care options in intensive care units (ICUs). Participants were recruited consecutively from January to August 2019, during which time data collection was conducted. A total of 1211 Spanish-language questionnaires were collected from 41 ICUs in Spain and Latin America.

Ibero-American consensus on learning outcomes for the acquisition of competencies by medical students through clinical simulation.

Objective: Our aim was to reach expert consensus on specific learning outcomes (LOs) that can be achieved through clinical simulation aimed at developing the competencies that medical students need to be able to successfully manage patients and assume general clinical responsibilities.

Materials And Methods: The six-member scientific committee peer-reviewed Spanish reference documentation (in line with the Bologna Process) on required competencies in medical undergraduate students to select an initial set of 16 competencies that could feasibly be developed through simulation and a corresponding set of 75 LOs. Snowball sampling was used to identify candidates for an international panel of simulation experts.

Ibero-American Consensus on Communication Skills for Nursing Degree students.

Objective: as a health care profession focused on caring for people, Nursing requires sound communication skills. Based on an international expert consensus, a proposal on learning outcomes in clinical communication for undergraduate Nursing education curricula in Spanish speaking countries is presented.

Method: a steering committee, consisting of 5 nurses and experts in communication in health care sciences, drew up the first list of communication skills specific to the Nursing degree.

Medical empathy in medical students in Madrid: A proposal for empathy level cut-off points for Spain.

This study evaluates the degree of empathy among medical students and its influencing factors at three critical moments of their degree studies (beginning of first year and end of third and sixth years) as well as establishes low-, medium-, and high-empathy cut-off points to obtain valid and reliable results that can be extrapolated to the general population. This cross-sectional study of the eight (public and private) medical schools in the province of Madrid, used an electronic questionnaire with the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE), Medical Student Well-Being Index, and other independent characteristics as measuring instruments. Of the 2,264 student participants, 1,679 (74.

The evolution of multiple sclerosis in Spain over the last decade from the patient's perspective.

Background: Updated information about self-reported experience and satisfaction with care of MS patients (PwMS) in Spain is scarce. We aim to describe, from PwMS' perspective, the disease impact, the quality of life and the satisfaction level with the social and healthcare support in Spain, and its evolution over the last decade.

Methods: Multicentre observational study, based on a cross-sectional nationwide survey, completed by 432 PwMS in Spain throughout 2018.

Analyzing Differences in Perception between Oncologists and Patients to Adapt Pharmacological Treatment for Breakthrough Cancer Pain: Observational ADAPTATE Study.

Transmucosal fentanyl (TF), used for breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP) treatment, has different formulations with distinctive attributes. The hypothesis is that, in shared decision making for the prevention of certain therapeutic problems, doctors and patients assign different value to the characteristics of treatment options. The aim of this study was to assess the discordance between the oncologists' opinion of attributes of TF and patients' expectations in BTcP treatment.

Medical resilience and morality: a survey study on the opinions and actions of exemplary family physicians.

Background: Studies conducted to understand how family doctors develop resilience and deal with the challenges posed by work-related stress, usually have focused on identifying the elements that generate resilience from psychological perspectives and their impact on coping strategies. Few have explored the role that personal qualities and values that traditionally motivate family physicians can play as drivers of well-being and resilience.

Objectives: To explore attributes that exemplary family physicians (EFP) consider important for their work and the elements that, for them, are source of gratification and resources in the face of the adversities they encounter in their practice.

Medical students' attitudes towards communication skills training: a longitudinal study with one cohort.

To explore medical students' attitudes towards communication skills and the evolution of these attitudes from their first to fourth academic years. A cohort of 91 medical students completed the Communication Skills Attitudes Scale (CSAS) at the beginning of their medical studies and at the end of their fourth year after having engaged in a training program in communication skills with experiential characteristics (individual encounters with simulated patients, observations in small groups, feedback, and practice). We analyzed students' positive and negative global attitudes and their affective, cognitive, and respect dimensions towards learning communication skills.

Measures to evaluate quality of care in renal cancer: results of a Delphi study in Spain.

Purpose: To review current measures for renal cancer care and develop a comprehensive and updated list of measures for their practical use in Spain.

Methods: The study was developed by Fundación ECO, a Spanish foundation aiming to improve oncology quality of care. A systematic literature review was carried out to identify measures and knowledge gaps.

Patient experience and self-perceived biopsychosocial burden of people living with multiple sclerosis: An epidemiological survey (BPS-MuScle study) in Spain.

Background: Updated information on the self-perceived biopsychosocial burden and the healthcare experience among people living with multiple sclerosis in Spain is scarce.We aim to describe the self-reported disease experience of patients diagnosed with MS in Spain and to estimate their biopsychosocial burden.

Methods: Multicentre epidemiological study based on a cross-sectional nationwide survey completed by a geographically stratified sample of MS patients in Spain.

Patient Perspective on the Management of Cancer Pain in Spain.

Pain in cancer is often underdiagnosed and undertreated. Breakthrough pain, in particular, severely impacts the quality of life of patients. In this study, we evaluated management and care of pain in Spain from the patient perspective by assessing the experience of 275 patients who had suffered breakthrough pain.

Initiating antiepilepsy treatment: An update of expert consensus in Spain.

Following publication in 2014 of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) official report changing the definition of epilepsy, a number of questions remain unresolved in regard to deciding when to start treatment and to the choice of a particular antiseizure medication (ASM). This study uses a Delphi method to update consensus among a panel of experts on the initiation of epilepsy treatment in order to provide insight regarding those questions. The study was undertaken in four phases.

Barriers to teaching communication skills in Spanish medical schools: a qualitative study with academic leaders.

Background: In recent years, Spanish medical schools (MSs) have incorporated training in communication skills (CS), but how this training is being carried out has not yet been evaluated.

Objective: To identify the barriers to the introduction and development of CS teaching in Spanish MSs.

Methods: In a previous study, 34 MSs (83% of all MSs in Spain) were invited to participate in a study that explored the factual aspects of teaching CS in these schools.

Medical students' perceptions towards learning communication skills: a qualitative study following the 2-year training programme.

Objectives: This study aimed to gain an understanding of the perceptions of 4th-year medical students about a training course in communication skills with 'experiential learning' characteristics, completed over the past two years.

Methods: Twenty 4th-year medical students were invited to participate in a qualitative study with focus groups. These students were selected randomly, stratifying by gender, from all 4th-year medical students (106) at the Francisco de Vitoria University (Madrid).

Medical students' attitudes toward communication skills learning: comparison between two groups with and without training.

Objective: The value students give to communication skills (CS), acquiring them, or other related matters can influence the effectiveness of educational programs. In this study, we explored first and fourth year medical students' attitudes toward CS and their learning, assessing the possible influence they have on programmed experiential training in a medical school.

Subjects And Methods: Two hundred and twenty first and fourth year medical students completed the Communication Skills Attitudes Scale, analyzing the positive and negative, and affective and cognitive attitude subscales toward learning.

[Clinical empathy among family and community medicine residents and tutors. The view of physicians and patients].

Aim: To determine the degree of clinical empathy among family medicine residents and tutors. To gauge whether there is a relationship between physicians' self-perceived empathy levels and their patients' assessments.

Study Design: Observational, cross-sectional survey.

Quality indicators in radiation oncology: proposal of the Spanish Society of Radiation Oncology (SEOR) for a continuous improvement of the quality of care in oncology.

Purpose: Current cancer treatment options include surgical intervention, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. The quality of the provision of each of them and their effective coordination determines the results in terms of benefit/risk. Regarding the radiation oncology treatments, there are not stabilised quality indicators to be used to perform control and continuous improvement processes for healthcare services.

Active study: undetected prevalence and clinical inertia in the treatment of breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP).

Aims: To prove if there is clinical inertia in the identification and treatment of episodes of breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP), comparing actual results from clinical practice with clinical oncologists' prior perception.

Design: Observational and descriptive study, using information collected by practising medical oncologists, at three moments: (a) questionnaire regarding their professional judgement of the handling of patients with BTcP in their practice, (b) cross-sectional clinical screening, to detect possible existing cases of BTcP in a representative sample of their patients, (c) retrospective self-audit of clinical case histories of patients diagnosed with BTcP to find out about how it has been handled.

Participants And Study Period: A random sample on a state level of 108 specialists in medical oncology.

[Promoting Health Promotion: Medical students perceptions about an educational program on behavioral change in primary care].

Objective: To evaluate whether a training program offered by family physicians in the official medical curriculum on principles and strategies to help patients change risk behaviours (HPCRB), produces changes in perceptions, opinions, and attitudes regarding this type of intervention.

Design: Quasi-experimental before-after study.

Setting: A School of Medicine.

Use of health care resources and loss of productivity in patients with depressive disorders seen in Primary Care: INTERDEP Study.

Introduction: The InterDep Study analyzes the characteristics of patients with a depressive disorder who, in the last years, have received health services at Primary Care in an specific health care area. The InterDep Study evaluates the use of heath care resources attributable to depression (direct costs) and loss of productivity (indirect costs). It also analyzes these patients’ referral to the specialist.