The management of acne vulgaris in primary care: a cohort study of consulting and prescribing patterns using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink.

Background: Effective management of acne vulgaris in primary care involves support (usually provided over a number of consultations) and prescription of effective treatments. However, consulting and prescribing patterns for acne in primary care are not well described.

Objectives: To describe the rate of primary-care consultations and follow-up consultations; prescribing patterns, including overall use of acne-related medications (ARMs); and initial and follow-up prescription for acne vulgaris in the U.

A final clinical examination using a sequential design to improve cost-effectiveness.

Context: Good examinations have a number of characteristics, including validity, reliable scores, educational impact, practicability and acceptability. Scores from the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) are more reliable than the single long case examination, but concerns about its validity have led to modifications and the development of other models, such as the mini-clinical evaluation exercise (mini-CEX) and the objective structured long examination record (OSLER). These retain some of the characteristics of the long case, but feature repeated encounters and more structure.