Access to UK general practice is complicated by the need to provide equitable and universal care within a system adapting to workforce challenges, digital innovation, and unprecedented demand. Despite the importance of accessing primary care in meeting the overall aim of delivering equitable care, this is the first time the direct and indirect influence of policies intended to facilitate access have been systematically explored. Further consideration by policymakers is needed to accommodate the difference between what patients need and what patients want when accessing primary care, and the differences in their ability to utilise digital options.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Training/education is increasingly used to improve healthcare professionals' knowledge, attitudes and clinical skills about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) health, but few reviews have assessed their effectiveness. This review describes the impact of training about LGBT healthcare for healthcare professionals on participants' knowledge, attitudes and clinical practice.
Design: Systematic review of intervention studies with contemporaneous comparators.
Half of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) are caused by bacterial infection, but self-management plans (SMPs) generally advocate use of antibiotics and steroids for all events. We report findings from a qualitative study exploring the acceptability of a sputum colour chart and SMP to guide patient use of antibiotics and steroids (commonly termed a 'rescue pack'). Qualitative interviews were conducted with healthcare professionals (HCPs) and patients from the Colour COPD trial - a randomised controlled trial of usual care (SMP alone) versus usual care plus sputum colour chart to manage AECOPD across England and sampled to promote maximum variation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) is caused by human papillomaviruses (HPV) 6 and 11, but the role of their genomic variants in the disease's clinical course is unclear. This study investigated whether long-term persistence of a particular HPV genotype, subtype or genomic variant influences the RRP clinical course. HPV genotyping was performed in paired baseline and follow-up RRP laryngeal tissue specimens of 59 patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis article is the second instalment in the series. The preceding article detailed the background, methodology and methods, while the current article delves into the study's findings and alignment with the broader literature. The study aimed to explore the research question: 'how do men perceive their engagement in the self-management of non-cancer-related lymphoedema?' Upon completing an online survey based on the validated lymphoedema quality of life tool (LYMQoL), the gathered data underwent narrative thematic analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhysical activity (PA) improves dyspnoea, psychological wellbeing and quality of life (QoL) for people with COPD reducing their risk of exacerbation. However, engagement in PA is low especially amongst those with anxiety and depression, and PA programmes are limited in countries with limited resources such as Brazil. We explored perceptions of 21 people with COPD about the impact of their disease on taking part in community-based PA programmes in Sao Paulo, Brazil through semi-structured telephone interviews from October 2020 to April 2021.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Modern general practice is characterised by increased demand and growing multidisciplinarity, including ring-fenced funding for additional non-clinical roles. For practice receptionists, however, training has remained unchanged for decades despite primary care being under greater pressure than ever, with receptionists becoming a growing focal point for abuse and unprecedented numbers leaving the role.
Aim: To present the evidence of the range of tasks that receptionists continue to perform, describing their impact on primary care delivery and how the role might be better supported.
Unlabelled: Although addition of pyrolyzed organic materials (biochars) to soil generally results in increased growth and physiological performance of plants, neutral and negative responses have also commonly been detected. Toxicity of organic compounds generated during pyrolysis, sorbed by biochars, and then released into the soil solution, has been implicated as a possible mechanism for such negative effects. Conversely, water-soluble biochar constituents have also been suggested to have "hormetic" effects (positive effects on plants at low concentrations); however, no specific compounds responsible have been identified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Community-based arts interventions have the potential to support contextually relevant nurturing care programmes and policies that adapt to different settings. Understanding the distinctive features of using the arts in local, culturally specific ways in low/middle-income countries (LMICs); how this varies by context; and gaining a better understanding of the perspectives on desirable outcomes for communities is important evidence that this review generates.
Design: We conducted a realist review of papers that covered outcomes related to child health or development (0-5 years) AND arts-based approaches AND community-based, participatory approaches AND based in LMICs using a range of databases and other networks.
Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review is to better understand access to, acceptance of and adherence to cancer prehabilitation.
Methods: MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsychINFO, Embase, Physiotherapy Evidence Database, ProQuest Medical Library, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and grey literature were systematically searched for quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods studies published in English between January 2017 and June 2023. Screening, data extraction and critical appraisal were conducted by two reviewers independently using Covidence™ systematic review software.
Br J Community Nurs
April 2024
This initial article delves into the methodology, methods and theories, while the subsequent article will centre on the discoveries, discussion and conclusion. The study aimed to address the research question: how do men perceive their engagement in the self-management of non-cancer-related lymphoedema? An interpretivist qualitative methodology was employed, utilising an online survey based on the validated lymphoedema quality of life tool (LYMQoL). The data underwent inductive narrative inquiry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Within primary care there exists a cohort of patients misdiagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Misdiagnosis can have a detrimental impact on healthcare finances and patient health and so understanding the factors leading to misdiagnosis is crucial in order to reduce misdiagnosis in the future. The objective of this study is to understand and explore the perceived causes of COPD misdiagnosis in primary care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Effective stakeholder engagement in health research is increasingly being recognised and promoted as an important pathway to closing the gap between knowledge production and its use in health systems. However, little is known about its process and impacts, particularly in low-and middle-income countries. This opinion piece draws on the stakeholder engagement experiences from a global health research programme on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) led by clinician researchers in Brazil, China, Georgia and North Macedonia, and presents the process, outcomes and lessons learned.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: To codesign a cancer personalised activity and lifestyle tool (CAN-PAL) based on an existing tool. To help cancer care workers support people affected by cancer to plan and integrate physical activity into lifestyles.
Design: Mixed-methods codesign study.
Introduction: In care settings across the globe non-clinical staff are involved in filtering patients to the most appropriate source of care. This includes primary care where general practice receptionists are key in facilitating access to individual surgeries and the wider National Health Service. Despite the complexity and significance of their role little is known of how the decision-making behaviors of receptionists impact policy implementation and service delivery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt has been suggested that stochasticity acts in the formation of topographically ordered maps in the visual system through the opposing chemoaffinity and neural activity forces acting on the innervating nerve fibers being held in an unstable equilibrium. Evidence comes from the Islet2-EphA3 knock-in mouse, in which ∼50% of the retinal ganglion cells, distributed across the retina, acquire the EphA3 receptor, thus having an enhanced density of EphA which specifies retinotopic order along the rostrocaudal (RC) axis of the colliculus. Sampling EphA3 knock-in maps in heterozygotes at different positions along the mediolateral (ML) extent of the colliculus had found single 1D maps [as in wild types (WTs)], double maps (as in homozygous knock-ins) or both single and double maps.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: In 2019, smoking prevalence in North Macedonia was one of the world's highest at around 46% in adults. However, access to smoking cessation treatment is limited and no co-ordinated smoking cessation programmes are provided in primary care.
Methods: We conducted a three parallel-armed randomised controlled trial (n = 1368) to investigate effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of lung age (LA) or exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) feedback combined with very brief advice (VBA) to prompt smoking cessation compared with VBA alone, delivered by GPs in primary care in North Macedonia.
Introduction: Reporting radiographers undertake an important role in healthcare and for the radiographer profession in general. First introduced in the United Kingdom, reporting radiographers are now practicing in several other European countries. Our objective was to investigate the workforce of reporting radiographers across the European Federation of Radiographer Societies (EFRS) community.
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