Improving the management of musculoskeletal conditions: can an alternative approach to referral management underpinned by quality improvement and behavioural change theories offer a solution and a better patient experience? A mixed-methods study.

Objectives: To assess whether a quality improvement-based approach to referral management can result in better musculoskeletal care within general practice.

Design: Prospective cohort study using mixed methodology including random-effects meta-analysis and interrupted time series.

Setting And Participants: 36 general practices in East London.

Medical Students Raising Concerns.

After a number of high-profile incidents and national reports, it has become clear that all health professionals and all medical students must be able to raise concerns about a colleague's behavior if this behavior puts patients, colleagues, or themselves at risk.Detailed evidence from medical students about their confidence to raise concerns is limited, together with examples of barriers, which impair their ability to do so. We describe a questionnaire survey of medical students in a single-center, examining self-reported confidence about raising concerns in a number of possible scenarios.

Professional interventions for general practitioners on the management of musculoskeletal conditions.

Background: Musculoskeletal conditions require particular management skills. Identification of interventions which are effective in equipping general practitioners (GPs) with such necessary skills could translate to improved health outcomes for patients and reduced healthcare and societal costs.

Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of professional interventions for GPs that aim to improve the management of musculoskeletal conditions in primary care.

Patient safety and communication: a new assessment for doctors trained in countries where language differs from that of the host country: results of a pilot using a domain-based assessment.

Objective: Global migration of healthcare workers places responsibility on employers to comply with legal employment rights whilst ensuring patient safety remains the central goal. We describe the pilot of a communication assessment designed for doctors who trained and communicated with patients and colleagues in a different language from that of the host country. It is unique in assessing clinical communication without assessing knowledge.

Peer feedback as an aid to learning--what do we want? Feedback. When do we want it? Now!

Background: With 360° appraisals integral to professional life, learning how to give constructive feedback is an essential generic skill.

Aim: To use a formative objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for skills acquisition and development in giving feedback, whilst facilitating awareness of the importance of communication skills in clinical practice.

Methods: Medical and nursing students took part in a formative OSCE.

Provision of continued professional development for non-medical prescribers within a South of England Strategic Health Authority: a report on a training needs analysis.

Aims: This paper reports on a Training Needs Analysis for Non-Medical Prescribers commissioned by a south of England Strategic Health Authority.

Background: The aim of the TNA was to inform future policy, educational provision and practice development and provide nurse managers with significant information on the perceived Continuing Professional Development (CPD) needs of the non-medical prescribers.

Methods: Data were collected from a sample of 270 non-medical prescribers using an in-depth questionnaire, and telephone interviews with a purposive sample of 11 key stakeholders.

Characterisation of epitopes of pan-IgG/anti-G3m(u) and anti-Fc monoclonal antibodies.

The characterisation of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and their epitopes is important prior to their application as molecular probes. In this study, Western blotting using IgG1 Fc and pFc' fragments was employed to screen seven MAbs before pepscan analysis to determine their reactivity to potentially linear epitopes. MAbs PNF69C, PNF110A, X1A11 and MAbs WC2, G7C, JD312, 1A1 detected epitopes within the C(H)3 and C(H)2 domains, respectively.