Symptom burden, coagulopathy and heart disease after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection in primary practice.

SETANTA (Study of HEarT DiseAse and ImmuNiTy After COVID-19 in Ireland) study aimed to investigate symptom burden and incidence of cardiac abnormalities after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)/COVID-19 and to correlate these results with biomarkers of immunological response and coagulation. SETANTA was a prospective, single-arm observational cross-sectional study condcuted in a primary practice setting, and prospectively registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (identifier: NCT04823182).

Can a practice pharmacist improve prescribing safety and reduce costs in polypharmacy patients? A pilot study of an intervention in an Irish general practice setting.

Objectives: This study aimed to develop and assess the feasibility and cost impact of an intervention involving a practice pharmacist embedded in general practice to improve prescribing safety, deprescribe where appropriate and reduce costs.

Setting: Four-doctor suburban general practice.

Participants: Inclusion criteria: patients receiving 10+ repeat drugs per month.

Acceptability and accuracy of oral fluid drug testing for patients on methadone maintenance.

Background: Methadone maintenance is currently the predominant form of opioid substitution treatment available in the Republic of Ireland. Prescribing decisions currently involve urine testing for drug use. Urine testing may involve provision of a supervised sample in some circumstances, despite recommendations made in 2010 to abandon this practice.

Free Children's Visits and General Practice Attendance.

Purpose: In July 2015, all children aged younger than 6 years gained free access to daytime and out-of-hours general practice services in the Republic of Ireland. Although 30% previously had free access, 70% did not.

Methods: To examine subsequent changes in service use, we retrospectively analyzed anonymized visitation data from 8 general practices in North Dublin providing daytime service and their local out-of-hours service, comparing the 1 year before and the 1 year after introduction of free care.