Effects of personalized invitation letters on research participation among general practitioners: a randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: Participation of general practitioners is crucial for health care studies. However, recruiting them is an ongoing challenge and participation rates of general practitioners around the globe are often low. One feasible and cost-efficient approach to potentially enhance participation rates among general practitioners are personalized invitation letters, since they may increase one's attention to and appreciation of a study. Still, evidence whether this method actually affects participation is scarce and ambiguous in relation to physicians. METHODS: We undertook a randomized trial in a sample of general practitioners from three German states in the context of a large, observational study on physicians' coordination and uptake of recommended cardiovascular ambulatory care. An intervention group (n = 757 general practitioners) received a personalized invitation to participate in the observational study, the control group (n = 754 general practitioners) received a generic invitation. Both groups were blinded to group assignment. Eventual participation rates as well as the number and types of responses overall were compared between arms. Besides the main intervention, sociodemographic and geographical context factors were considered as well. RESULTS: The overall participation rate among physicians was 2.6% (2.8% in the intervention group and 2.4% in the control group). No statistically significant effect of personalization on participation of physicians was found (relative risk to participate when receiving a personalized invitation of 1.17 [95%-CI: 0.62, 2.21]). However, the number of responses to the invitation varied significantly between the geographical regions. CONCLUSIONS: Personalization of first written contact alone did not improve research participation among general practitioners, which was overall very low. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study in which the trial was embedded has been registered prospectively at the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS) under registration number DRKS00019219 .

Antineoplastic drugs prescription during visits by adult cancer patients with comorbidities: findings from the 2010-2016 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

PURPOSE: Cancer treatment may be affected by comorbidities; however, studies are limited. The purpose of this study is to examine the frequency of comorbidities at visits by patients with breast, prostate, colorectal, and lung cancer and to estimate frequency of a prescription for antineoplastic drugs being included in the treatment received at visits by patients with cancer and concomitant comorbidities. METHODS: We used nationally representative data on visits to office-based physicians from the 2010-2016 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and selected visits by adults with breast, prostate, colorectal, or lung cancer (n = 4,672). Nineteen comorbid conditions were examined. Descriptive statistics were calculated for visits by cancer patients with 0, 1, and ≥ 2 comorbidities. RESULTS: From 2010-2016, a total of 10.2 million physician office visits were made annually by adult patients with breast, prostate, colorectal, or lung cancer. Among US visits by adult patients with breast, prostate, colorectal, or lung cancer, 56.3% were by patients with ≥ 1 comorbidity. Hypertension was the most frequently observed comorbidity (37.7%), followed by hyperlipidemia (19.0%) and diabetes (12.3%). Antineoplastic drugs were prescribed in 33.5% of the visits and prescribed at a lower percentage among visits by cancer patients with COPD (21.3% versus 34.3% of visits by cancer patients without COPD) and heart disease (22.7% versus 34.2% of visits by cancer patients without heart disease). CONCLUSION: Our study provides information about comorbidities in cancer patients being treated by office-based physicians in an ambulatory setting.

Medical care services provision and stress experience in urologists during all waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.

Purpose: Urologists' practices reported decreasing medical care provision and increasing stress experience in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, long-term effects of the pandemic are unknown. Methods: Medical record data of n = 127 urologists were used to assess changes in healthcare provision, comparing the pandemic with the pre-pandemic period. An online survey among n = 101 urologists was conducted to assess the physicians' perceptions of the identified healthcare provision and organizational changes and experiences of anxiety, stress, and support needs during the pandemic waves. Urologists consultations, specialists' referrals, hospital admissions, documented cancer diagnoses, urologists' perceptions of causes for these changes and experienced stress, anxiety and support needs. Results were demonstrated using descriptive statistics. Results: Over the first two years of the pandemic, there was a slight decline in consultations (-0,94%), but more intensive reduction in hospital admissions (-13,6%) and identified cancer diagnoses (-6,2%). Although patients' behavior was seen as the main reason for the changes, 71 and 61% of consultations of high-risk patients or urgent surgeries were canceled. Telemedical approaches were implemented by 58% of urologists, and 88% stated that the reduced cancer detection rate would negatively affect patients' outcomes. Urologists reported higher anxiety, stress, and need for support during all waves of the pandemic than other disciplines, especially females. Conclusion: The pandemic tremendously affects urologists' health care provision and stress experience, possibly causing long-term consequences for patients and physicians.

Patient safety in ambulatory care from the patient's perspective: a retrospective, representative telephone survey.

OBJECTIVES: Data on patient safety problems (PSPs) in ambulatory care are scarce. The aim of the study was to record the frequency, type, severity and point of origin of PSPs in ambulatory care in Germany. DESIGN: Retrospective cross-sectional study. SETTING: Computer-assisted telephone interviews with randomly recruited citizens aged ≥40 years in Germany who were asked about their experiences with PSPs in ambulatory care. PARTICIPANTS: 10 037 citizens ≥40 years. MEASURES: A new questionnaire was developed to record patient experiences with PSPs in ambulatory care. The study reported here targets patient experiences in the last 12 months. The questionnaire focuses on PSPs in seven areas of medical treatment: anamnesis/diagnostic procedures; medication; vaccination, injection, infusion; aftercare; outpatient surgery; office administration; other areas. For each PSP reported, detailed questions were asked about the specialist group concerned, and, on the most serious harm, the severity of the harm and its consequences. The target parameters are presented as proportions with 95% CIs. RESULTS: 1422 of the respondents (14%) reported 2589 PSPs. The areas most frequently affected by PSPs were anamnesis/diagnostic procedures (61%) and medication (15%). General practitioners accounted for 44% of PSPs, orthopaedists for 15% and internists for 10%. 75% of PSPs were associated with harm, especially unnecessarily prolonged pain or deterioration of health; 35% of PSPs led to permanent harm. 804 PSPs (32%) prompted patients to see another doctor for additional treatment; 255 PSPs (10%) required inpatient treatment. CONCLUSION: PSPs experienced by patients are widespread in ambulatory care in Germany. The study reveals in which areas of medical treatment efforts to prevent PSPs could make the greatest contribution to improving patient safety. It also demonstrates the valuable contribution of patient reports to the analysis of PSPs.

Capturing modelled and perceived spatial access to ambulatory health care services in rural and urban areas in Germany.

Studies on social and regional inequalities in access to health care often use spatial indicators such as physician density to measure access to health care. However, the concept of access is more complex, comprising, among others, patient perceptions. In this study, we evaluate the association between different spatial measures of access (i.e. physician density, distance to the nearest provider, and measures based on floating catchment area methods) and measures of perceived spatial access to ambulatory health care in rural and urban areas in Germany. Using correlation and regression analysis, we found that the significance and strength of the relation between perceived and modelled spatial access depends on the type of area and the physician group. The distance to the nearest physician is associated with perceived spatial access to GPs only in rural areas but not in urban areas. More sophisticated measures of spatial access seem not to explain perceived access better than the simpler indicators.

Ambulatory and stationary healthcare use in survivors of ARDS during the first year after discharge from ICU: findings from the DACAPO cohort.

BACKGROUND: For many survivors of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), the process from discharge from intensive care unit (ICU) to recovery is long and difficult. However, healthcare use after discharge from ICU has received only little attention by research. This study sets out to investigate the extent of ambulatory and stationary healthcare use among survivors of ARDS in Germany (multicenter DACAPO cohort) and to analyze predictors of stationary healthcare use. RESULTS: A total of 396 survivors of ARDS provided data at 1 year after discharge from ICU. Fifty percent of 1-year survivors were hospitalized for 48 days or longer after discharge from ICU, with 10% spending more than six out of 12 months in stationary care. The duration of hospitalization increased significantly by the length of the initial ICU stay. All participants reported at least one outpatient visit (including visits to general practitioners), and 50% contacted four or more different medical specialties within the first year after discharge from ICU. CONCLUSIONS: For most of the patients, the first year after ARDS is characterized by an extensive amount of healthcare utilization, especially with regard to stationary health care. These findings shed light on the substantial morbidity of patients after ARDS and contribute to a better understanding of the situation of patients following discharge from ICU.

Internações das crianças brasileiras menores de cinco anos: revisão sistemática da literatura / Hospitalizaciones de los niños brasileños menores de cinco años: revisión sistemática de la literatura / Hospitalizations of Brazilian children under fiver years old: a systematic review

Objetivo: descrever as causas de internações nas crianças brasileiras menores de cinco anos relatadas na literatura. Métodos: trata-se de uma revisão sistemática de artigos publicados entre 2008 e 2015, a partir das bases eletrônicas Medline e Lilacs; os estudos foram avaliados criticamente, utilizando-se um instrumento validado. Resultados: foram incluídos 11 artigos, quatro ecológicos e sete transversais; doenças do aparelho respiratório (n=5), infecções parasitárias (n=4) e afecções perinatais (n=2) foram as causas gerais de internações mais frequentes nos artigos revisados; nos estudos que analisaram as condições sensíveis, pneumonias (n=6), gastroenterites (n=5) e asma (n=5) foram as causas mais apontadas. Conclusão: doenças respiratórias, parasitárias e perinatais citam-se entre as principais causas de internações nas crianças brasileiras; pneumonias, gastroenterites e asma constituem as causas mais importantes de internações que são preveníveis, tratáveis no nível primário de atenção à saúde.

Objetivo: describir las causas de hospitalización en los niños brasileños menores de cinco años. Métodos: revisión sistemática de artículos publicados entre 2008 y 2015, usando las bases electrónicas PubMed y Bireme; los estudios fueron evaluados críticamente utilizando un instrumento validado. Resultados: fueron incluidos 11 artículos, cuatro ecológicos y siete transversales; enfermedades del aparato respiratorio (n=5), infecciones parasitarias (n=4) y afecciones perinatales (n=2) fueron las causas generales de internación más frecuentes en los artículos revisados; en los estudios que analizaron las condiciones sensibles, neumonías (n=6), gastroenteritis (n=5) y asma (n=5) fueron las causas más apuntadas. Conclusión: enfermedades respiratorias, parasitarias y perinatales se citan entre las principales causas de internaciones en los niños brasileños; neumonías, gastroenteritis y asma constituyen las causas más importantes de internaciones que pueden ser prevenidas y tratadas en el nivel primario de atención a la salud.

Objective: to describe the causes of hospitalization of Brazilian children under five years old. Methods: this is a systematic review of articles published from 2008 to 2015, searched in the databases Medline and LILACS; selected studies were critically analyzed through a validated instrument. Results: eleven articles were included, four of them are ecological and seven are cross-sectional studies; respiratory diseases (n=5), parasitic infections (n=4) and perinatal diseases (n=2) were the main causes for hospitalizations in the reviwed articles; in the studies that analyzed the sensitive conditions, pneumonia (n=6), gastroenteritis (n=5), and asthma (n=5) were the mais causes pointed out. Conclusion: respiratory, parasitic and perinatal diseases revealed to be the main causes for hospitalizations in Brazilian children; pneumonia, gastroenteritis, and asthma constitute the most important of hospitalizations, treatable in the ambulatory health care.