Primary Care / General Practice News From Medical News Today

Study Examines Misconceptions Of Who Picks Up Tab When Patients Walk Out

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

There are ways in which patients who leave the hospital against medical advice wind up paying for that decision. Being saddled with the full cost of their hospital stay, however, is not one of them. Insurance companies know this. Patients who walk out may know this. But many physicians, according to a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, do not...

GP Burnout Rates High in UK

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:00:00 PST

According to an investigation of GPs (general practitioners) in one region of South East England, burnout levels in UK general practice are high. The study is published in BMJ Open...

Vaccine Myths - Doctors Try To Dispel Them

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:00:00 PST

A Missouri State Medical Association, led by two Saint Louis University pediatricians, aims to raise awareness about the importance of getting children vaccinated and change the way in which doctors respond to parents' fears of vaccines. The campaign is the focus point of Ken Haller, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, and Anthony Scalzo, M.D...

Doctors Aim To Dispel Myths About Vaccines

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

Two Saint Louis University pediatricians are leading a Missouri State Medical Association statewide effort to change the way doctors respond to parents' fears of vaccines, and to raise awareness about the importance of getting children vaccinated. Ken Haller, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, and Anthony Scalzo, M.D...

Most GP Complaints Resolved Locally, UK

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:00:00 PST

According to an analysis of complaints in the latest edition of inpractice, the Medical Defense Union's journal that appears twice a year and is aimed at GP practice manager members covering topics like complaints, RCN indemnity changes and dealing with estranged parents, over 90% of 2,410 complaints made by GP members in the year April 2009/2010 seem to have been resolved locally...

Safety Alerts Concerning NHS Direct 111 Pilots

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:00:00 PST

After a Pulse investigation uncovered several safety alerts within the Government's NHS 111 pilots, as well as expressing concern that GP commissioners are being excluded from the rollout - the GPC has been prompted to call for the program to be put on hold...

Normal Weight Doctors Discuss Weight Loss With Patients More Often Than Overweight Colleagues

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:00:00 PST

A national cross-sectional survey of 500 primary care physicians in the US finds their weight may influence obesity diagnosis and care. Among the findings, published earlier this month in the journal Obesity, is the suggestion that doctors whose BMI is in the normal weight range are more likely to to discuss weight loss with patients than overweight or obese colleagues...

Weight Of Physician May Influence Obesity Diagnosis And Care

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST

A patient's body mass index (BMI) may not be the only factor at play when a physician diagnoses a patient as obese. According to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the diagnosis could also depend on the weight of your physician...

Cancer Patients' Treatment, Diagnosis Wait Time Reduced By Danish Health Care Fast Track Program

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:00:00 PST

In Denmark, implementing a national fast track system for cancer patients reduced the waiting time between a patient's initial meeting with a health care provider and their first treatment by four weeks when comparing 2010 to 2002, according to a study presented at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium, sponsored by AHNS, ASCO, ASTRO and SNM...

Nearly 95% Of Clinical Commissioning Groups Ready To Take On Commissioning Budgets In April, UK

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:00:00 PST

According to BMJ Careers, In April 2012, 94.2% of the emerging clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England will be able to take on primary care trust commissioning budgets as they passed the strategic health authority (SHA) risk assessment of their configuration. Just 5...

Patients With Diabetes Benefit From Lifestyle Counseling In Primary Care Setting

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST

Lifestyle counseling, practiced as part of routine care for people with diabetes, helps people more quickly lower blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol levels and keep them under control, according to a large, long-term study published in the February issue of Diabetes Care...

Increase In Physician Referrals Could Lead To Increase In Health Care Costs

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:00:00 PST

Physician referral rates in the United States doubled between 1999 and 2009, a new study finds, an increase that likely contributes to the rising costs of health care. The increase in referral rates coincides with an increase in chronic conditions such as Type 2 diabetes...

Going To Physician Visits With Older Loved Ones Could Improve Care

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:00:00 PST

Family companions who routinely accompany older adults to physician office visits could be helpful to health care quality improvement efforts, according to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health...

In Determination Of Child Abuse, Socioeconomic Status More Influential Than Race

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST

An Indiana University School of Medicine study has determined that a patient's socioeconomic status has more influence than race on physician diagnosis of whether a child's injury was accidental or caused by abuse...

Communicating Health Risk Is A Risky Task For FDA

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST

The impact of efforts by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to notify the general public and health care providers about unanticipated risks from approved medications has been "varied and unpredictable," according to a systematic review of published studies about FDA warnings and alerts over the last 20 years...

At Annual Check-Ups Patients Receive Half Of Recommended Preventive Health Services

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST

More than 20 percent of U.S. adults receive periodic health examinations (PHE) each year, yet new research shows that patients who have an annual routine visit to their doctor may not receive recommended preventive screening tests and counseling services that could benefit their health...

Major Public Health Campaign Called For By Stanford Dean To Fight Epidemic Of Unnecessary Suffering

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:00:00 PST

The amount of needless suffering caused by both acute and chronic pain in the United States is a major, overlooked medical problem that requires improved education at multiple levels, stretching from the implementation of new public health campaigns to better training of primary care physicians in pain management...

Availability Of Key Attributes Of Primary Care, Medical Home, Decrease Risk Of Death

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 01:00:00 PST

Greater access to features of high-quality primary care - comprehensiveness, patient-centeredness and extended office hours - is associated with lower mortality, according to a new national UC Davis study...

News From The Annals Of Family Medicine: January/February 2012

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:00:00 PST

Caring for the growing number of people with multiple health conditions The January/February issue of Annals takes an up-close look at multimorbidity, the coexistence of multiple chronic health conditions in a single individual, a phenomenon that is growing at an alarming rate and bankrupting the U.S. health care system...

Team Care Improving Depression And Diabetes

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 02:00:00 PST

The growing number of people with multiple physical and mental chronic conditions are among the toughest - and costliest - to care for. The TEAMcare collaborative care program is a promising solution...

Most Doctors In Europe Concerned About How They Will Be Treated When They Are Old

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:00:00 PST

A new study from the Economist Intelligence Unit on healthcare provision for an aging population showed that the overwhelming majority of surveyed health professionals (81%) is concerned about the way they will be treated when they grow old, and remain skeptical whether current policies to address demographic shift caused by an aging population are realistic, comprehensive or s...

NHS Pensions, BMA Launches Final Survey Of Its Members, UK

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:00:00 PST

About 130,000 BMA Doctors and medical students across the UK will be questioned regarding the government's final offer in negotiations on the future of the NHS pension scheme in a major survey that has been launched by the BMA (British Medical Association). The BMA intends to learn whether the participants' views on the offer are acceptable or not...

Simple Online Tool To Aid GPs In Early Ovarian Cancer Diagnosis

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:00:00 PST

The lives of hundreds of women could be saved every year, thanks to a simple online calculator that could help GPs identify women most at risk of having ovarian cancer at a much earlier stage. Academics from The University of Nottingham and ClinRisk Ltd have developed a new QCancer algorithm using the UK QResearch database...

News From The Annals Of Internal Medicine: Jan. 3, 2012

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 02:00:00 PST

1. Sixth Edition of American College of Physicians Ethics Manual Addresses New Topics and Expands on Recurrent Issues The American College of Physicians (ACP) has released the sixth edition of its Ethics Manual...

Doctors Are Cautious, Patients Enthusiastic About Sharing Medical Notes

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 PST

Patients are overwhelmingly interested in exploring the notes doctors write about them after an office visit, but doctors worry about the impact of such transparency on their patients and on their own workflow, a Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) study suggests. In a study published in the Dec...

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