Emerging literature is highlighting the huge toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on frontline health workers. However, prior to the crisis, the wellbeing of this group was already of concern. The aim of ...this paper is to describe the frequency of distress and wellbeing, measured by the expanded 9-item Mayo Clinic Wellbeing Index (eWBI), among general practitioners/family physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic and to identify levers to mitigate the risk of distress. Data were collected by means of an online self-reported questionnaire among GP practices. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software using Version 7 of the database, which consisted of the cleaned data of 33 countries available as of 3 November 2021. Data from 3711 respondents were included. eWBI scores ranged from -2 to 9, with a median of 3. Using a cutoff of ≥2, 64.5% of respondents were considered at risk of distress. GPs with less experience, in smaller practices, and with more vulnerable patient populations were at a higher risk of distress. Significant differences in wellbeing scores were noted between countries. Collaboration from other practices and perception of having adequate governmental support were significant protective factors for distress. It is necessary to address practice- and system-level organizational factors in order to enhance wellbeing and support primary care physicians.
Similar to other countries, Departments of Family Medicine in the former Yugoslavia had to transition from face-to-face to distance education during COVID-19.
To elucidate obstacles and facilitators ...of the transition from face-to-face to distance education.
A cross-sectional, multicentre, qualitative study design was used to analyse nine open-ended questions from an online survey using inductive thematic analysis. The questionnaire was distributed to 21 medical schools, inviting them to involve at least two teachers/students/trainees. Data were collected between December 2021 and March 2022.
In 17 medical schools, 23 students, 54 trainees and 40 teachers participated. The following themes were identified: facilitators and barriers of transition, innovations for enhancing distance education, convenience of distance education, classical teaching for better communication, the future of distance education, reaching learning outcomes and experience of online assessment. Innovations referred mainly to new online technologies for interactive education and communication. Distance education allowed for greater flexibility in scheduling and self-directed learning; however, participants felt that classical education allowed better communication and practical learning. Teachers believed knowledge-related learning outcomes could be achieved through distance education but not teaching clinical skills. Participants anticipated a future where a combination of teaching methods is used.
The transition to distance education was made possible thanks to its flexible scheduling, innovative tools and possibility of self-directed learning. However, face-to-face education was considered preferable for fostering interpersonal relations and teaching clinical skills. Educators should strive to strike a balance between innovative approaches and the preservation of personal experiences.
The countries of the former Yugoslavia have health and education systems with the same tradition but these have changed over the years. Little is known about how family medicine teaching transitioned ...from face-to-face to distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic.
to investigate student/teacher experience in transitioning from face-to-face to distance education.
A cross-sectional, online survey was conducted among 21 medical schools of the former Yugoslavia between December 2021 and March 2022. Under/postgraduate teachers and students who taught/studied family medicine during the academic year 2020/2021 were invited to participate. Of 31 questions for students and 35 for teachers, all but nine open questions were analysed using descriptive statistics.
Seventeen of 21 medical schools contributed data involving 117 participants representing all countries of the former Yugoslavia. At the beginning of the pandemic, 30%, 26% and 15% of teachers, students and trainees, respectively, received formal preparation in distance education. Of these, 92% of teachers and 58% of students/trainees felt they were not adequately prepared. Synchronous teaching was the main method used, with a third using hybrid methods. All participants were least confident about online assessment. More than 75% of respondents agreed that lectures could be kept online, not patient consultations or practical skills' classes.
Teachers used various old and new methods to provide learning opportunities despite COVID-19 constraints. Effective technology-based strategies are essential to ensure assessment integrity and enhance the learning environment.
IntroductionPalliative care (PC) has been recognized as a public health priority by the World Health Organisation, with most governments acknowledging PC within their public health strategies. ...However, awareness of PC among general population is less than optimal and varies substantialy. In order to obtain full implementation of PC policies it is essential to understand public views and knowledge related to PC. An international study in Slovenia, Croatia, Austria and Hungary is being conducted with the aim to assess the level of awareness and understanding of PC among general public. The methodology and expected descriptive results of Croatian arm of the study will be presented.MethodsA community-based cross sectional survey covering four Croatian regions on a population of individuals aged 18+ years will be performed in the period January-March 2020. Information on awareness and understanding of PC will be collected using a self-administered questionnaire used in previous studies, adapted for the purpose of this study by Slovenian investigators. A Slovenian version of the questionnaire has been translated to Croatian (forward-backward translation process, pilot-testing, cultural adaptation, consensus on the final version). A sample of 1200 patients attending their family physicians (FPs) during the study period will be invited to participate in the study (sample of 385 required to provide confidence level of 95%) and offered to fill the online or paper version of the questionnaire. A reminder will be sent in two weeks.Descriptive statistics will be performed regarding distribution of responses to each question, with chi-square being used where appropriate to determine the association between socio-demographic variables and outcomes of interest. Data will be analyzed using statistical software IBM SPSS, version 20.Results (work in progress)It is expected that public awareness of PC in Croatia will be suboptimal, with sociodemographic characteristics being correlated to variability in levels of awareness. The most common sources of information related to PC are expected to be close family or friends receiving PC. Preffered place of PC and preferred site of dying are expected to be the person's own home. A number of priorities in terms of patient recieving PC and their family members from public perspective will be indentified.DiscussionThe existing literature on public awareness and understanding of PC and its availability in the community has suggested variable and mostly inadequate awareness of PC among the general public, which represents a barrier for effective and appropriate PC implementation.ConclusionsIn order to improve knowledge and empower individuals for utilization of PC services, enchanced understanding of PC principles and services by general public is needed.Lessons learnedThe existing knowledge and attitudes as well as percieved priorities regarding PC among the general public in Croatia will be identified.LimitationsThe convenient study sample consisting of individuals attending FPs may not full represent the general adult population in Croatia.Suggestions for future researchFuture research should focus on implementation of strategies to increase public awareness and understanding of PC through educational acitivities in the community.
The day-to-day work of primary care (PC) was substantially changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Teaching practices needed to adapt both clinical work and teaching in a way that enabled the teaching ...process to continue, while maintaining safe and high-quality care. Our study aims to investigate the effect of being a training practice on a number of different outcomes related to the safety culture of PC practices. PRICOV-19 is a multi-country cross-sectional study that researches how PC practices were organized in 38 countries during the pandemic. Data was collected from November 2020 to December 2021. We categorized practices into training and non-training and selected outcomes relating to safety culture: safe practice management, community outreach, professional well-being and adherence to protocols. Mixed-effects regression models were built to analyze the effect of being a training practice for each of the outcomes, while controlling for relevant confounders. Of the participating practices, 2886 (56%) were non-training practices and 2272 (44%) were training practices. Being a training practice was significantly associated with a lower risk for adverse mental health events (OR: 0.83; CI: 0.70-0.99), a higher number of safety measures related to patient flow (Beta: 0.17; CI: 0.07-0.28), a higher number of safety incidents reported (RR: 1.12; CI: 1.06-1.19) and more protected time for meetings (Beta: 0.08; CI: 0.01-0.15). No significant associations were found for outreach initiatives, availability of triage information, use of a phone protocol or infection prevention measures and equipment availability. Training practices were found to have a stronger safety culture than non-training practices. These results have important policy implications, since involving more PC practices in education may be an effective way to improve quality and safety in general practice.
Introduction. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of burnout, and of associated factors, amongst family doctors (FDs) in European countries. Methodology. A cross-sectional survey of ...FDs was conducted using a custom-designed and validated questionnaire which incorporated the Maslach Burnout Inventory Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) as well as questions about demographic factors, working experience, health, lifestyle and job satisfaction. MBI-HSS scores were analysed in the three dimensions of emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP) and personal accomplishment (PA). Results. Almost 3500 questionnaires were distributed in 12 European countries, and 1393 were returned to give a response rate of 41%. In terms of burnout, 43% of respondents scored high for EE burnout, 35% for DP and 32% for PA, with 12% scoring high burnout in all three dimensions. Just over one-third of doctors did not score high for burnout in any dimension. High burnout was found to be strongly associated with several of the variables under study, especially those relative to respondents’ country of residence and European region, job satisfaction, intention to change job, sick leave utilization, the (ab)use of alcohol, tobacco and psychotropic medication, younger age and male sex. Conclusions. Burnout seems to be a common problem in FDs across Europe and is associated with personal and workload indicators, and especially job satisfaction, intention to change job and the (ab)use of alcohol, tobacco and medication. The study questionnaire appears to be a valid tool to measure burnout in FDs. Recommendations for employment conditions of FDs and future research are made, and suggestions for improving the instrument are listed.
While primary care physicians (PCPs) play a key role in cancer detection, they can find cancer diagnosis challenging, and some patients have considerable delays between presentation and onward ...referral.
To explore European PCPs' experiences and views on cases where they considered that they had been slow to think of, or act on, a possible cancer diagnosis.
A multicentre European qualitative study, based on an online survey with open-ended questions, asking PCPs for their narratives about cases when they had missed a diagnosis of cancer.
Using maximum variation sampling, PCPs in 23 European countries were asked to describe what happened in a case where they were slow to think of a cancer diagnosis, and for their views on why it happened. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.
A total of 158 PCPs completed the questionnaire. The main themes were as follows: patients' descriptions did not suggest cancer; distracting factors reduced PCPs' cancer suspicions; patients' hesitancy delayed the diagnosis; system factors not facilitating timely diagnosis; PCPs felt that they had acted wrongly; and problems with communicating adequately.
The study identified six overarching themes that need to be addressed. Doing so should reduce morbidity and mortality in the small proportion of patients who have a significant, avoidable delay in their cancer diagnosis. The 'Swiss cheese' model of accident causation showed how the themes related to each other.
To investigate the quality of general practice care in Croatia by using patient enablement as a consultation outcome measure and its association with patient, physician, and practice characteristics.
...A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study performed from November 2003 to March 2004 included a national stratified random sample of 350 general practitioners, who were asked to collect data on 50 consecutive consultations with their patients aged > or =18 years. Patients provided data on patient enablement (Patient Enablement Instrument, score range 0-12), consultation length, sociodemographic data, how well they knew the physician, health self-assessment, quality of life, and reason for the visit. Physicians provided data on age, sex, vocational training, working experience, educational work, average number of patients per day, and type of practice.
In 5527 patients, the mean score (+/-standard deviation) for enablement at consultation was 6.6+/-3.3 and the mean consultation length was 11.5+/-5.5 minutes. Logistic regression analysis showed that lack of continuity of care (men: OR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.47-0.67; women: OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.45-0.61), poor self-perceived health (men: OR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.49-2.07; women: OR, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.53-2.04), low educational level, low quality of life for both sexes and older age in male patients predicted low enablement (P<0.05 for each). Physician age, sex, and average number of patients per day were significantly correlated with enablement for male patients and physician working experience with enablement for female patients (P<0.05 for each).
Patient enablement score in Croatia is high in comparison with countries such as the UK and Poland. Enablement at consultations was related to the continuity of care and patient health status, and other patient, physician, and practice characteristics, suggesting that these parameters should be considered when assessing quality of care in general practice.
Hrvatska je među vodećim zemljama u svijetu po stopi transplantacija jetre. Zahvaljujući sve dužem preživljenju nakon transplantacije povećana je potreba za dugoročnom skrbi pacijenata, pri čemu sve ...veći dio skrbi preuzimaju obiteljski liječnici. Kasne komplikacije transplantacije jetre uključuju širok spektar metaboličkih poremećaja koji se javljaju u značajnom postotoku transplantiranih; šećerna bolest (do 30%), dislipidemija (45 – 69%), hipertenzija (50 – 90%), pretilost (do 40%), osteoporoza (37%), hiperuricemija (14 – 47%), dok je
pojava pojedinih malignih bolesti i do 4 puta viša nego u netransplantiranoj populaciji. Kardiovaskularne bolesti i malignomi vodeći su uzroci smrtnosti dugoročno nakon transplantacije jetre. Uz ostale faktore rizika, imunosupresivni lijekovi, kalcijneurinski inhibitori, antimetaboliti i mTOR inhibitori značajno pridonose razvitku navedenih
komplikacija. Nadalje, kod 22 – 33% pacijenata nakon transplantacije jetre prisutan je neki oblik poremećaja raspoloženja, od kojih najčešće anksioznost i depresija. Prevencija, prepoznavanje i zbrinjavanje komplikacija nakon transplantacije jetre ključni su za poboljšanje dugoročnih ishoda. Cilj ovog preglednog rada jest približiti problematiku dugoročnog zbrinjavanja pacijenata nakon transplantacije jetre u primarnoj zdravstvenoj zaštiti
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