OBJECTIVES To assess the mean duration of use of HRT in general practice and to identify determinants of the duration of HRT use. METHODS A general population of 1689 women aged 45-60 years and enlisted in five group practices of general practitioners were followed for 9 months to trace first HRT prescriptions. All 103 women who were prescribed HRT were followed for a period of 2.25 years. Du...

BACKGROUND In an attempt to control chronic benzodiazepine use and its costs in the Netherlands, health care insurance reimbursement of this medication was stopped on January 1st 2009. This study investigates whether benzodiazepine prescriptions issued by general practitioners changed during the first two years following implementation of this regulation. METHODS Registry study based on data ...

BACKGROUND It is important to understand health professionals' attitudes and beliefs about practice and the barriers to achieving best practice. The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) has been widely used to understand behaviour. In this study, TPB was used to explore the psychological variables that influence community pharmacists and the supply of non-prescription medicines. OBJECTIVES The o...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate and inform emergency supply of prescription-only medicines by community pharmacists (CPs), including how the service could form an integral component of established healthcare provision to maximise adherence. DESIGN Mixed methods. 4 phases: prospective audit of emergency supply requests for prescribed medicines (October-November 2012 and April 2013); interviews with CPs ...

The European Association of Preventive Cardiology Exercise Prescription in Everyday Practice and Rehabilitative Training (EXPERT) tool has been developed for digital training decision support cardiovascular disease patients clinical practice. prescription recommendation systems sub-healthy people are essential to enhance this dominant group’s physical ability as well. This study aims construct ...

BACKGROUND Screening-based CKD estimates may not provide a sufficient insight into the impact of CKD on the use of healthcare resources in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to evaluate the epidemiology of "medicalized" CKD, that is, CKD requiring healthcare services, in an outpatient setting. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, AND MEASUREMENTS This is a retrospective, longitudinal popu...

BACKGROUND In Italy many diabetics still lack adequate care in general practice. We assessed the effectiveness of different strategies for the implementation of an evidence-based guideline for the management of non-complicated type 2 diabetes among General Practitioners (GPs) of Lazio region. METHODS Three-arm cluster-randomised controlled trial with GPs as units of randomisation (clusters). ...

An analysis of 7218 consultations showed that homeopathic medicines are being used to treat a wide range of morbidity in the United Kingdom. The data were derived from all consecutive consultations during one week by 73 doctors who used homeopathic medicine. Of these consultations 88% were conducted as part of the National Health Service (the majority in general practice). Thirty five per cent ...

Although the use of over the counter (OTC) nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is effective for smoking cessation, many concerns and misunderstandings persist that may reduce the effectiveness of NRT. Clinical practice and public health experts responded to a questionnaire that explored challenges associated with promoting proper NRT use and gathered recommendations on overcoming these challenge...