Problems and challenges in relation to the treatment of patients with multimorbidity: General practitioners' views and attitudes.

Objective: To explore views and attitudes among general practitioners (GPs) and researchers in the field of general practice towards problems and challenges related to treatment of patients with multimorbidity.

Setting: A workshop entitled Patients with multimorbidity in general practice held during the Nordic Congress of General Practice in Tampere, Finland, 2013.

Subjects: A total of 180 GPs and researchers.

Patients' assessments of the continuity of primary care in Finland: a 15-year follow-up questionnaire survey.

Background: Continuity of care is an essential aspect of quality in general practice. This study is the first systematic follow-up of Finnish primary care patients' assessments with regard to personal continuity of care.

Aim: To ascertain whether patient-reported longitudinal personal continuity of care is related to patient characteristics and their consultation experiences, and how this had changed over the study period.

Decreasing trends in patient satisfaction, accessibility and continuity of care in Finnish primary health care - a 14-year follow-up questionnaire study.

Background: The aim here was to explore trends in patient satisfaction with primary health care and its accessibility and continuity, and to explore whether through reforms and improvements some of the essential goals had been achieved over a 14-year period of time in Finland.

Methods: Nine questionnaire surveys were conducted over a period of 14 years among patients attending within one week in the 65 health centres in the Tampere University Hospital catchment area. A total of 147,394 responded out of a sample of 333,648 patients.

Allergy from infancy to adolescence. A population-based 18-year follow-up cohort.

Background: Anxious parents have many concerns about the future health of their atopic infants. Paediatricians and primary care practitioners need to seek knowledge on long-term outcomes in order to cope with the increasing caseload of suspected allergy and the concerns of parents. The aim of the study was to assess suspected and diagnosed allergy in infancy as predictors of allergy and asthma in adolescence.

Cumulative prevalence of atopic eczema and related skin symptoms in a well-baby clinic: a retrospective cohort study.

The aim of the study was to assess the frequency and treatment policy of atopic eczema (AE) and related skin symptoms including rash, redness, dryness and itch in 0- to 5-year-old children. Health records of 320 children born in 1994 were systematically studied. The main results were that 77% of children suffered from skin symptoms during their first 5 years while the cumulative prevalence of AE was 16%, and 11% of children with skin symptoms were referred to a specialist.

Task-based learning (TBL) in undergraduate medical education.

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a proven method to learn medicine during the first years of studies. In the clinical phase the active, self-directive student may experience difficulties in adapting to the life of professionals in health care units, where students usually have to attend and work according to preplanned timetables. Task-based learning (TBL) can serve as an intermediary in the meeting of these two cultures.