When a test is more than just a test: Findings from patient interviews and survey in the trial of a technology to measure antidepressant medication response (the PReDicT Trial).

BACKGROUND: A RCT of a novel intervention to detect antidepressant medication response (the PReDicT Test) took place in five European countries, accompanied by a nested study of its acceptability and implementation presented here. The RCT results indicated no effect of the intervention on depression at 8 weeks (primary outcome), although effects on anxiety at 8 weeks and functioning at 24 weeks were found. METHODS: The nested study used mixed methods. The aim was to explore patient experiences of the Test including acceptability and implementation, to inform its use within care. A bespoke survey was completed by trial participants in five countries (n = 778) at week 8. Semi-structured interviews were carried out in two countries soon after week 8 (UK n = 22, Germany n = 20). Quantitative data was analysed descriptively; for qualitative data, thematic analysis was carried out using a framework approach. Results of the two datasets were interrogated together. OUTCOMES: Survey results showed the intervention was well received, with a majority of participants indicating they would use it again, and it gave them helpful extra information; a small minority indicated the Test made them feel worse. Qualitative data showed the Test had unexpected properties, including: instigating a process of reflection, giving participants feedback on progress and new understanding about their illness, and making participants feel supported and more engaged in treatment. INTERPRETATION: The qualitative and quantitative results are generally consistent. The Test's unexpected properties may explain why the RCT showed little effect, as properties were experienced across both trial arms. Beyond the RCT, the qualitative data sheds light on measurement reactivity, i.e., how measurements of depression can impact patients.

Providing an interactive undergraduate elective on safety culture online - concept and evaluation.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has made it more difficult to maintain high quality in medical education. As online formats are often considered unsuitable, interactive workshops and seminars have particularly often been postponed or cancelled. To meet the challenge, we converted an existing interactive undergraduate elective on safety culture into an online event. In this article, we describe the conceptualization and evaluation of the elective. METHODS: The learning objectives of the safety culture elective remained unchanged, but the teaching methods were thoroughly revised and adapted to suit an online setting. The online elective was offered as a synchronous two-day course in winter semester 2020/21 during the "second wave" of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. At the end of each day, participating students evaluated the elective by completing an online survey. Items were rated on a six-point Likert scale. We used SPSS for data analysis. RESULTS: Twenty medical undergraduates completed the elective and rated it extremely positively (1.1 ± 0.2). Students regard safety culture as very important and felt the learning objectives had been achieved. Moreover, they were very satisfied with the design and content of the elective, and especially with interactive elements like role-play. Around 55% of participants would recommend continuing to offer the online elective after the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: It makes sense to offer undergraduate medical students online elective courses on safety culture, especially during a pandemic. The elective described here can serve as a best practice example of how to teach safety culture to undergraduates, especially when physical presence is unfeasible. Electives requiring a high degree of interaction can also function well online.

Trajectories of depression in sepsis survivors: an observational cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Advances in critical care medicine have led to a growing number of critical illness survivors. A considerable part of them suffers from long-term sequelae, also known as post-intensive care syndrome. Among these, depressive symptoms are frequently observed. Depressive symptom trajectories and associated factors of critical illness survivors have rarely been investigated. Study objective was to explore and compare different trajectories of depressive symptoms in sepsis survivors over 1 year after discharge from ICU. METHODS: Data of a randomized controlled trial on long-term post-sepsis care were analyzed post hoc. Depressive symptoms were collected at 1, 6 and 12 months post-ICU discharge using the Major Depression Inventory (MDI), among others. Statistical analyses comprised descriptive analysis, univariate and multivariate, linear and logistic regression models and Growth Mixture Modeling. RESULTS: A total of 224 patients were included into this analysis. We identified three latent classes of depressive symptom trajectories: Over the course of 1 year, 152 patients recovered from mild symptoms, 27 patients showed severe persistent symptoms, and 45 patients recovered from severe symptoms. MDI sum scores significantly differed between the three classes of depressive symptom trajectories at 1 and 6 months after ICU discharge (p < 0.024 and p < 0.001, respectively). Compared with other classes, patients with the mild recovered trajectory showed lower levels of chronic pain (median sum score of 43.3 vs. 60.0/53.3 on the Graded Chronic Pain Scale, p < 0.010) and posttraumatic stress (4.6% with a sum score of ≥ 35 on the Posttraumatic Stress Scale 10 vs. 48.1%/33.3%, p < 0.003); and higher levels of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) using the Short Form-36 scale within 1 month after ICU discharge (p < 0.035). CONCLUSIONS: In the first year after discharge from ICU, sepsis survivors showed three different trajectories of depressive symptoms. Course and severity of depressive symptoms were associated with chronic pain, posttraumatic stress and reduced HRQOL at discharge from ICU. Regular screening of sepsis survivors on symptoms of depression, chronic pain and posttraumatic stress within 1 year after ICU may be considered. Trial registration ISRCTN, ISRCTN 61744782. Registered April 19, 2011-Retrospectively registered, http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN61744782 .

[Interprofessional Care of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis from the Perspective of a General Practitioner Perspective: Results of a Cross-sectional Study]. / Interprofessionelle Versorgung von Patienten mit rheumatoider Arthritis aus hausärztlicher Sicht: Ergebnisse einer Querschnittserhebung.

BACKGROUND: General practitioners, specialists, occupational and physical therapists, nursing services and other professional groups are all involved in the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. This study aims to describe interprofessional cooperation in daily ambulatory care from the perspective of a general practitioner. METHODS: The cross-sectional study investigated cooperation between general practitioners (n=121 in 68 medical practices) and several other health care providers in Hesse and Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, from February to September 2017. It was part of the prospective cohort study PANORA (Prevalence of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) positivity in patients with new onset of non-specific musculoskeletal symptoms). The questionnaire that was used contained closed-ended questions on socio-demographics and frequency of contact, and asked physicians to assess and weigh existing collaboration. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. RESULTS: When caring for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 70%, of the physicians often took responsibility for synchronizing medications, and discussing diagnoses and test results. The most frequent cooperation was with rheumatologists and was considered as highly important but the least satisfactory. The second most frequent cooperation was with physical therapists and this was also rated as very important. Physicians had highest level of satisfaction with their collaboration with the nursing services. CONCLUSION: This study shows that general practitioners perform several medical tasks when treating patients with rheumatoid arthritis. During the process, they work together with several health care providers to various degrees. Cooperation with rheumatologists and physical therapists is particularly important to general practitioners; cooperation with rheumatologists is considered inadequate and in need of improvement.

Cross-cultural validation of the German version of the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire (4DSQ) in multimorbid elderly people.

PURPOSE: Psychosomatic symptoms and mental health problems are highly prevalent in multimorbid elderly people challenging general practitioners to differentiate between normal stress and psychopathological conditions. The 4DSQ is a Dutch questionnaire developed to detect anxiety, depression, somatization, and distress in primary care. This study aims to analyze measurement equivalence between a German version and the original Dutch instrument. METHODS: A Dutch and a German sample of multimorbid elderly people, matched by gender and age, were analyzed. Equivalence of scale structures was assessed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). To evaluate measurement equivalence across languages, differential item functioning (DIF) was analyzed using Mantel-Haenszel method and hybrid ordinal logistic regression analysis. Differential test functioning (DTF) was assessed using Rasch analysis. RESULTS: A total of 185 German and 185 Dutch participants completed the questionnaire. The CFA confirmed one-factor models for all scales of both 4DSQ versions. Nine items in three scales were flagged with DIF. The anxiety scale showed to be free of DIF. DTF analysis revealed negligible scale impact of DIF. CONCLUSIONS: The German 4DSQ demonstrated measurement equivalence to the original Dutch instrument. Hence, it can be considered a valid questionnaire for the screening for mental health problems in primary care.

Does a complex intervention increase patient knowledge about oral anticoagulation? - a cluster-randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Oral anticoagulation therapy (OAT) is a challenge in general practice, especially for high-risk groups such as the elderly. Insufficient patient knowledge about safety-relevant aspects of OAT is considered to be one of the main reasons for complications. The research question addressed in this manuscript is whether a complex intervention that includes practice-based case management, self-management of OAT and additional patient and practice team education improves patient knowledge about anticoagulation therapy compared to a control group of patients receiving usual care (as a secondary objective of the Primary Care Management for Optimised Antithrombotic Treatment (PICANT) trial). METHODS: The cluster-randomised controlled PICANT trial was conducted in 52 general practices in Germany, between 2012 and 2015. Trial participants were patients with a long-term indication for oral anticoagulation. A questionnaire was used to assess knowledge at baseline, after 12, and after 24 months. The questionnaire consists of 13 items (with a range of 0 to 13 sum-score points) covering topics related to intervention. Differences in the development of patient knowledge between intervention and control groups compared to baseline were assessed for each follow-up by means of linear mixed-effects models. RESULTS: Seven hundred thirty-six patients were included at baseline, of whom 95.4% continued to participate after 12 months, and 89.3% after 24 months. The average age of patients was 73.5 years (SD 9.4), and they mainly suffered from atrial fibrillation (81.1%). Patients in the intervention and control groups had similar knowledge about oral anticoagulation at baseline (5.6 (SD 2.3) in both groups). After 12 months, the improvement in the level of knowledge (compared to baseline) was significantly larger in the intervention group than in the control group (0.78 (SD 2.5) vs. 0.04 (SD 2.3); p = 0.0009). After 24 months, the difference between both groups was still statistically significant (0.6 (SD 2.6) vs. -0.3 (SD 2.3); p = 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Since this intervention was effective, it should be established in general practice as a means of improving patient knowledge about oral anticoagulation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current controlled trials ISRCTN41847489 ; Date of registration: 13/04/2012.

Implementation of chronic illness care in German primary care practices--how do multimorbid older patients view routine care? A cross-sectional study using multilevel hierarchical modeling.

BACKGROUND: In primary care, patients with multiple chronic conditions are the rule rather than the exception. The Chronic Care Model (CCM) is an evidence-based framework for improving chronic illness care, but little is known about the extent to which it has been implemented in routine primary care. The aim of this study was to describe how multimorbid older patients assess the routine chronic care they receive in primary care practices in Germany, and to explore the extent to which factors at both the practice and patient level determine their views. METHODS: This cross-sectional study used baseline data from an observational cohort study involving 158 general practitioners (GP) and 3189 multimorbid patients. Standardized questionnaires were employed to collect data, and the Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) questionnaire used to assess the quality of care received. Multilevel hierarchical modeling was used to identify any existing association between the dependent variable, PACIC, and independent variables at the patient level (socio-economic factors, weighted count of chronic conditions, instrumental activities of daily living, health-related quality of life, graded chronic pain, no. of contacts with GP, existence of a disease management program (DMP) disease, self-efficacy, and social support) and the practice level (age and sex of GP, years in current practice, size and type of practice). RESULTS: The overall mean PACIC score was 2.4 (SD 0.8), with the mean subscale scores ranging from 2.0 (SD 1.0, subscale goal setting/tailoring) to 3.5 (SD 0.7, delivery system design). At the patient level, higher PACIC scores were associated with a DMP disease, more frequent GP contacts, higher social support, and higher autonomy of past occupation. At the practice level, solo practices were associated with higher PACIC values than other types of practice. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that from the perspective of multimorbid patients receiving care in German primary care practices, the implementation of structured care and counseling could be improved, particularly by helping patients set specific goals, coordinating care, and arranging follow-up contacts. Studies evaluating chronic care should take into consideration that a patient's assessment is associated not only with practice-level factors, but also with individual, patient-level factors. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN89818205.

Anticoagulant treatment in German family practices - screening results from a cluster randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Oral anticoagulation (OAC) with coumarins and new anticoagulants are highly effective in preventing thromboembolic complications. However, some studies indicate that over- and under-treatment with anticoagulants are fairly common. The aim of this paper is to assess the appropriateness of treatment in patients with a long-term indication for OAC, and to describe the corresponding characteristics of such patients on the basis of screening results from the cluster randomized PICANT trial. METHODS: Randomly selected family practices in the federal state of Hesse, Germany, were visited by study team members. Eligible patients were screened using an anonymous patient list that was generated by the general practitioners' software according to predefined instructions. A documentation sheet was filled in for all screened patients. Eligible patients were classified into 3 categories (1: patients with a long-term indication for OAC and taking anticoagulants, 2: patients with a long-term indication for OAC but not taking anticoagulants, 3: patients without a long-term indication for OAC but taking an anticoagulant on a permanent basis). IBM SPSS Statistics 20 was used for descriptive statistical analysis. RESULTS: We screened 2,036 randomly selected, potentially eligible patients from 52 family practices. 275 patients could not be assigned to one of the 3 categories and were therefore not considered for analysis. The final study sample comprised 1,761 screened patients, 1,641 of whom belonged to category 1, 78 to category 2, and 42 to category 3. INR values were available for 1,504 patients of whom 1,013 presented INR values within their therapeutic ranges. The majority of screened patients had very good compliance, as assessed by the general practitioner. New antithrombotic drugs were prescribed in 6.1% of cases. CONCLUSIONS: The screening results showed that a high proportion of patients were receiving appropriate anticoagulation therapy. The numbers of patients with a long-term indication for OAC therapy that were not receiving oral anticoagulants, and without a long-term indication that were receiving OAC, were considerably lower than expected. Most patients take coumarins, and the quality of OAC control is reasonably high. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN41847489.

Agreement between self-reported and general practitioner-reported chronic conditions among multimorbid patients in primary care - results of the MultiCare Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Multimorbidity is a common phenomenon in primary care. Until now, no clinical guidelines for multimorbidity exist. For the development of these guidelines, it is necessary to know whether or not patients are aware of their diseases and to what extent they agree with their doctor. The objectives of this paper are to analyze the agreement of self-reported and general practitioner-reported chronic conditions among multimorbid patients in primary care, and to discover which patient characteristics are associated with positive agreement. METHODS: The MultiCare Cohort Study is a multicenter, prospective, observational cohort study of 3,189 multimorbid patients, ages 65 to 85. Data was collected in personal interviews with patients and GPs. The prevalence proportions for 32 diagnosis groups, kappa coefficients and proportions of specific agreement were calculated in order to examine the agreement of patient self-reported and general practitioner-reported chronic conditions. Logistic regression models were calculated to analyze which patient characteristics can be associated with positive agreement. RESULTS: We identified four chronic conditions with good agreement (e.g. diabetes mellitus κ = 0.80;PA = 0,87), seven with moderate agreement (e.g. cerebral ischemia/chronic stroke κ = 0.55;PA = 0.60), seventeen with fair agreement (e.g. cardiac insufficiency κ = 0.24;PA = 0.36) and four with poor agreement (e.g. gynecological problems κ = 0.05;PA = 0.10).Factors associated with positive agreement concerning different chronic diseases were sex, age, education, income, disease count, depression, EQ VAS score and nursing care dependency. For example: Women had higher odds ratios for positive agreement with their GP regarding osteoporosis (OR = 7.16). The odds ratios for positive agreement increase with increasing multimorbidity in almost all of the observed chronic conditions (OR = 1.22-2.41). CONCLUSIONS: For multimorbidity research, the knowledge of diseases with high disagreement levels between the patients' perceived illnesses and their physicians' reports is important. The analysis shows that different patient characteristics have an impact on the agreement. Findings from this study should be included in the development of clinical guidelines for multimorbidity aiming to optimize health care. Further research is needed to identify more reasons for disagreement and their consequences in health care. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN89818205.

Cost-effectiveness of depression case management in small practices.

BACKGROUND: Case management undertaken by healthcare assistants in small primary care practices is effective in improving depression symptoms and adherence in patients with major depression. AIMS: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of depression case management by healthcare assistants in small primary care practices. METHOD: Cost-effectiveness analysis on the basis of a pragmatic randomised controlled trial (2005-2008): practice-based healthcare assistants in 74 practices provided case management to 562 patients with major depression over 1 year. Our primary outcome was the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) calculated as the ratio of differences in mean costs and mean number of quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). Our secondary outcome was the mean depression-free days (DFDs) between the intervention and control group at 24-month follow-up. The study was registered at the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number Registry: ISRCTN66386086. RESULTS: Intervention v. control group: no significant difference in QALYs; significantly more DFDs (mean: 373 v. 311, P<0.01); no significant difference in mean direct healthcare costs (€4495 v. €3506, P = 0.16); considerably lower mean indirect costs (€5228 v. €7539, P = 0.06), resulting in lower total costs (€9723 v. €11 045, P = 0.41). The point estimate for the cost-utility ratio was €38 429 per QALY gained if only direct costs were considered, and 'dominance' of the intervention if total costs were considered. Yet, regardless of decision makers' willingness to pay per QALY, the probability of the intervention being cost-effective was never above 90%. CONCLUSIONS: In small primary care practices, 1 year of case management did not increase the number of QALYs but it did increase the number of DFDs. The intervention was likely to be cost-effective.

How to improve drug dosing for patients with renal impairment in primary care - a cluster-randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at increased risk for inappropriate or potentially harmful prescribing. The aim of this study was to examine whether a multifaceted intervention including the use of a software programme for the estimation of creatinine clearance and recommendation of individual dosage requirements may improve correct dosage adjustment of relevant medications for patients with CKD in primary care. METHODS: A cluster-randomized controlled trial was conducted between January and December 2007 in small primary care practices in Germany. Practices were randomly allocated to intervention or control groups. In each practice, we included patients with known CKD and elderly patients (≥70 years) suffering from hypertension. The practices in the intervention group received interactive training and were provided a software programme to assist with individual dose adjustment. The control group performed usual care. Data were collected at baseline and at 6 months. The outcome measures, analyzed across individual patients, included prescriptions exceeding recommended maximum daily doses, with the primary outcome being prescriptions exceeding recommended standard daily doses by more than 30%. RESULTS: Data from 44 general practitioners and 404 patients are included. The intervention was effective in reducing prescriptions exceeding the maximum daily dose per patients, with a trend in reducing prescriptions exceeding the standard daily dose by more than 30%. CONCLUSIONS: A multifaceted intervention including the use of a software program effectively reduced inappropriately high doses of renally excreted medications in patients with CKD in the setting of small primary care practices. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN02900734.

Case management for depression by health care assistants in small primary care practices: a cluster randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: Case management by health care assistants in small primary care practices provides unclear benefit for improving depression symptoms. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether case management provided by health care assistants in small primary care practices is more effective than usual care in improving depression symptoms and process of care for patients with major depression. DESIGN: Cluster randomized, controlled trial. A central automated system generated the randomization scheme, which was stratified by urban and rural practices; allocation sequence was concealed until groups were assigned. SETTING: 74 small primary care practices in Germany from April 2005 to September 2007. PATIENTS: 626 patients age 18 to 80 years with major depression. INTERVENTION: Structured telephone interview to monitor depression symptoms and support for adherence to medication, with feedback to the family physician. MEASUREMENTS: Depression symptoms at 12 months, as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9); secondary outcomes were patient assessment of chronic illness care, adherence to medication, and quality of life. RESULTS: A total of 310 patients were randomly assigned to case management and 316 to usual care. At 12 months, 249 intervention recipients and 278 control patients were assessed; 555 patients were included in a modified intention-to-treat-analysis (267 intervention recipients vs. 288 control patients). Compared with control patients, intervention recipients had lower mean PHQ-9 values in depression symptoms (-1.41 [95% CI, -2.49 to -0.33]; P = 0.014), more favorable assessments of care (3.41 vs. 3.11; P = 0.011), and increased treatment adherence (2.70 vs. 2.53; P = 0.042). Quality-of-life scores did not differ between groups. LIMITATION: Patients, health care assistants, family physicians, and researchers were not blinded to group assignment, and 12-month follow-up of patients was incomplete. CONCLUSION: Case management provided by primary care practice-based health care assistants may reduce depression symptoms and improve process of care for patients with major depression more than usual care. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: German Ministry of Education and Research.

Healthcare experiences of patients with chronic heart failure in Germany: a scoping review.

OBJECTIVES: To review systematically the past 10 years of research activity into the healthcare experiences (HCX) of patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) in Germany, in order to identify research foci and gaps and make recommendations for future research. DESIGN: In this scoping review, six databases and grey literature sources were systematically searched for articles reporting HCX of patients with CHF in Germany that were published between 2008 and 2018. Extracted results were summarised using quantitative and qualitative descriptive analysis. RESULTS: Of the 18 studies (100%) that met the inclusion criteria, most were observational studies (60%) that evaluated findings quantitatively (60%). HCX were often concerned with patient information, global satisfaction as well as relationships and communication between patients and providers and generally covered ambulatory care, hospital care and rehabilitation services. Overall, the considerable heterogeneity of the included studies' outcomes only permitted relatively trivial levels of synthesis. CONCLUSION: In Germany, research on HCX of patients with CHF is characterised by missing, inadequate and insufficient information. Future research would benefit from qualitative analyses, evidence syntheses, longitudinal analyses that investigate HCX throughout the disease trajectory, and better reporting of sociodemographic data. Furthermore, research should include studies that are based on digital data, reports of experiences gained in under-investigated yet patient-relevant healthcare settings and include more female subjects.

Representation of patients with a migration background in studies on antithrombotic treatment. An analysis of recruitment data from a cluster randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The health status, health awareness and health behavior of persons with a migration background often differ from the autochthonous population. Little is known about the proportion of patients with a migration background (PMB) that participate in primary care studies on oral antithrombotic treatment (OAT) in Germany, and whether the quality of their antithrombotic care differs from patients without a migration background. The aim of this paper was to use the results of a cluster-randomized controlled trial (PICANT) to determine the proportion of PMB at different stages of recruitment, and to compare the results in terms of sociodemographic characteristics and antithrombotic treatment. METHODS: This study used screening and baseline data from the PICANT trial on oral anticoagulation management in GP practices. For this analysis, we determined the proportion of PMB during the recruitment period at stage 1 (screening of potentially eligible patients), stage 2 (eligible patients invited to participate in the trial), and stage 3 (assessment of baseline characteristics of patients participating in the PICANT trial). In addition, we compared patients in terms of sociodemographic characteristics and quality of anticoagulant treatment. Statistical analysis comprised descriptive and bivariate analyses. RESULTS: The proportion of PMB at each recruitment stage declined from 9.1% at stage 1 to 7.9% at stage 2 and 7.3% at stage 3). A lack of German language skills led to the exclusion of half the otherwise eligible PMB. At stages 1 and 3, PMB were younger (stage 1: 70.7 vs. 75.0 years, p<0.001; stage 3: 70.2 vs. 73.5 years, p = 0.013), but did not differ in terms of gender. The quality of their anticoagulant care was comparable (100.0% vs. 99.1% were receiving appropriate OAT, 94.4% vs. 95.7% took phenprocoumon, or warfarin, and the most recent INR measurement of 60.8% vs. 69.3% was within their individual INR range). CONCLUSIONS: In the potentially eligible population and among participants at baseline, the quality of anticoagulant care was high in all groups of patients, which is reassuring. To enable the inclusion of more PMB, future primary care research on OAT in Germany should address how best to overcome language barriers. This will be challenging, particularly because the heterogeneity of PMB means the resulting sample sizes for each specific language group are small. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN41847489.

Health care assistants in primary care depression management: role perception, burdening factors, and disease conception.

PURPOSE: In primary care, the involvement of health care assistants (HCAs) in clinical depression management is an innovative approach. Little is known, however, about how HCAs experience their new tasks. We wanted to describe the perceptions and experiences of HCAs who provided case management to patients with depression in small primary care practices. METHODS: This qualitative study was nested in the Primary Care Monitoring for Depressive Patients Trial on case management in Germany. We used a semi-structured instrument to interview 26 HCAs and undertook content analysis. We focussed on 3 key aspects: role perception, burdening factors, and disease conception. RESULTS: Most HCAs said their new role provided them with personal and professional enrichment, and they were interested in improving patient-communication skills. They saw their major function as interacting with the patient and considered support for the family physician to be of less importance. Even so, some saw their role as a communication facilitator between family physician and patient. Burdening factors implementing the new tasks were the increased workload, the work environment, and difficulties interacting with depressed patients. HCAs' disease conception of depression was heterogeneous. After 1 year HCAs believed they were sufficiently familiar with their duties as case managers in depression management. CONCLUSION: HCAs were willing to extend their professional responsibilities from administrative work to more patient-centred work. Even if HCAs perform only monitoring tasks within the case management concept, the resulting workload is a limiting factor.

A survey on worries of pregnant women--testing the German version of the Cambridge worry scale.

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy is a transition period in a woman's life characterized by increased worries and anxiety. The Cambridge Worry Scale (CWS) was developed to assess the content and extent of maternal worries in pregnancy. It has been increasingly used in studies over recent years. However, a German version has not yet been developed and validated.The aim of this study was (1) to assess the extent and content of worries in pregnancy on a sample of women in Germany using a translated and adapted version of the Cambridge Worry Scale, and (2) to evaluate the psychometric properties of the German version. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study and enrolled 344 pregnant women in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Women filled out structured questionnaires that contained the CWS, the Spielberger-State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory (STAI), as well as questions on their obstetric history. Antenatal records were also analyzed. RESULTS: The CWS was well understood and easy to fill in. The major worries referred to the process of giving birth (CWS mean value 2.26) and the possibility that something might be wrong with the baby (1.99), followed by coping with the new baby (1.57), going to hospital (1.29) and the possibility of going into labour too early (1.28). The internal consistency of the scale (0.80) was satisfactory, and we found a four-factor structure, similar to previous studies. Tests of convergent validity showed that the German CWS represents a different construct compared with state and trait anxiety but has the desired overlap. CONCLUSIONS: The German CWS has satisfactory psychometric properties. It represents a valuable tool for use in scientific studies and is likely to be useful also to clinicians.

The German MultiCare-study: Patterns of multimorbidity in primary health care - protocol of a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Multimorbidity is a highly frequent condition in older people, but well designed longitudinal studies on the impact of multimorbidity on patients and the health care system have been remarkably scarce in numbers until today. Little is known about the long term impact of multimorbidity on the patients' life expectancy, functional status and quality of life as well as health care utilization over time. As a consequence, there is little help for GPs in adjusting care for these patients, even though studies suggest that adhering to present clinical practice guidelines in the care of patients with multimorbidity may have adverse effects. METHODS/DESIGN: The study is designed as a multicentre prospective, observational cohort study of 3.050 patients aged 65 to 85 at baseline with at least three different diagnoses out of a list of 29 illnesses and syndromes. The patients will be recruited in approx. 120 to 150 GP surgeries in 8 study centres distributed across Germany. Information about the patients' morbidity will be collected mainly in GP interviews and from chart reviews. Functional status, resources/risk factors, health care utilization and additional morbidity data will be assessed in patient interviews, in which a multitude of well established standardized questionnaires and tests will be performed. DISCUSSION: The main aim of the cohort study is to monitor the course of the illness process and to analyse for which reasons medical conditions are stable, deteriorating or only temporarily present. First, clusters of combinations of diseases/disorders (multimorbidity patterns) with a comparable impact (e.g. on quality of life and/or functional status) will be identified. Then the development of these clusters over time will be analysed, especially with regard to prognostic variables and the somatic, psychological and social consequences as well as the utilization of health care resources. The results will allow the development of an instrument for prediction of the deterioration of the illness process and point at possibilities of prevention. The practical consequences of the study results for primary care will be analysed in expert focus groups in order to develop strategies for the inclusion of the aspects of multimorbidity in primary care guidelines.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of case management for optimized antithrombotic treatment in German general practices compared to usual care - results from the PICANT trial.

BACKGROUND: By performing case management, general practitioners and health care assistants can provide additional benefits to their chronically ill patients. However, the economic effects of such case management interventions often remain unclear although how to manage the burden of chronic disease is a key question for policy-makers. This analysis aimed to compare the cost-effectiveness of 24 months of primary care case management for patients with a long-term indication for oral anticoagulation therapy with usual care. METHODS: This analysis is part of the cluster-randomized controlled Primary Care Management for Optimized Antithrombotic Treatment (PICANT) trial. A sample of 680 patients with German statutory health insurance was initially considered for the cost analysis (92% of all participants at baseline). Costs included all disease-related direct health care costs from the payer's perspective (German statutory health insurers) plus case management costs for the intervention group. A-Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) measurement (EQ-5D-3 L instrument) was used to evaluate utility, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) to assess cost-effectiveness. Mean differences were calculated and displayed with 95%-confidence intervals (CI) from non-parametric bootstrapping (1000 replicates). RESULTS: N = 505 patients (505/680, 74%) were included in the cost analysis (complete case analysis with a follow-up after 12 and 24 months as well as information on cost and QALY). After two years, the mean difference of direct health care costs per patient (€115, 95% CI [- 201; 406]) and QALYs (0.03, 95% CI [- 0.04; 0.11]) in the two groups was small and not significant. The costs of case management in the intervention group caused mean total costs per patient in this group to rise significantly (mean difference €503, 95% CI [188; 794]). The ICER was €16,767 per QALY. Regardless of the willingness of insurers to pay per QALY, the probability of the intervention being cost-effective never rose above 70%. CONCLUSIONS: A primary care case management for patients with a long-term indication for oral anticoagulation therapy improved QALYs compared to usual care, but was more costly. However, the results may help professionals and policy-makers allocate scarce health care resources in such a way that the overall quality of care is improved at moderate costs, particularly for chronically ill patients. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN41847489 .

Chronic heart failure patients' experiences of German healthcare services: a protocol for a scoping review.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic heart failure (CHF) is a heterogeneous condition requiring complex treatment from diverse healthcare services. An increasingly holistic understanding of healthcare has resulted in contextual factors such as perceived quality of care, as well as patients' acceptance, preferences and subjective expectations of health services, all gaining in importance. How patients with CHF experience the use of healthcare services has not been studied within the scope of a systematic review in a German healthcare context. The aim of this scoping review is therefore to review systematically the experiences of patients affected by CHF with healthcare services in Germany in the literature and to map the research foci. Further objectives are to identify gaps in evidence, develop further research questions and to inform decision makers concerned with improving healthcare of patients living with CHF. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This scoping review will be based on a broad search strategy involving systematic and comprehensive electronic database searches in MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, PSYNDEX, CINAHL and Cochrane's Database of Systematic Reviews, grey literature searches, as well as hand searches through reference lists and non-indexed key journals. The methodological procedure will be based on an established six-stage framework for conducting scoping reviews that includes two independent reviewers. Data will be systematically extracted, qualitatively and quantitatively analysed and summarised both narratively and visually. To ensure the research questions and extracted information are meaningful, a patient representative will be involved. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval will not be required to conduct this review. Results will be disseminated through a clearly illustrated report that will be part of a wider research project. Furthermore, it is intended that the review's findings should be made available to relevant stakeholders through conference presentations and publication in peer-reviewed journals (knowledge transfer). Protocol registration in PROSPERO is not applicable for scoping reviews.

Classes of depression symptom trajectories in patients with major depression receiving a collaborative care intervention.

PURPOSE: Collaborative care is effective in improving symptoms of patients with depression. The aims of this study were to characterize symptom trajectories in patients with major depression during one year of collaborative care and to explore associations between baseline characteristics and symptom trajectories. METHODS: We conducted a cluster-randomized controlled trial in primary care. The collaborative care intervention comprised case management and behavioral activation. We used the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) to assess symptom severity as the primary outcome. Statistical analyses comprised latent growth mixture modeling and a hierarchical binary logistic regression model. RESULTS: We included 74 practices and 626 patients (310 intervention and 316 control recipients) at baseline. Based on a minimum of 12 measurement points for each intervention recipient, we identified two latent trajectories, which we labeled 'fast improvers' (60.5%) and 'slow improvers' (39.5%). At all measurements after baseline, 'fast improvers' presented higher PHQ mean values than 'slow improvers'. At baseline, 'fast improvers' presented fewer physical conditions, higher health-related quality of life, and had made fewer suicide attempts in their history. CONCLUSIONS: A notable proportion of 39.5% of patients improved only 'slowly' and probably needed more intense treatment. The third follow-up in month two could well be a sensible time to adjust treatment to support 'slow improvers'.