Dataset Information

Asthma care practicing among general practitioners in Lebanon: a cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

The aim of this study was to characterize the current practice of asthma among general practitioners (GPs) in Lebanon.

Methods

Out of 2450 Lebanese registered GPs, a representative sample of 330 were stratified by region to fill out the questionnaire constructed on the basis of surveys developed mainly by the Chicago Asthma Surveillance Initiative Report Team in newly moderate persistent asthma patients aged 5 years and above. The questionnaire included information about ascertaining diagnostic techniques, pharmacotherapeutic approaches, formal patient education program; asthma related continuing medical education and asthma practice guidelines.

Results

Totally, 302 completed the questionnaire achieving a response rate of 91.5%. Chest radiography was the most commonly used diagnostic test (98%), while stain for eosinophilia was the less commonly used (7.9%). For clinical monitoring, cough and wheezing (98.7%) were mostly assessed. Short acting inhaled ?2-agonists were often the most prescribed (94.3%) followed by inhaled corticosteroids (87.4%) then by long acting ?-agonist (LABA) and theophylline (27.5% and 20.9%, respectively). Moreover, 10% of GPs provided formal asthma education program, 72.2% attended professional education and 65% adopted guidelines.

Conclusion

Based on current international guidelines, the overall Lebanese GPs practice of asthma management is not at an acceptable standard. Therefore, it is recommended to improve monitoring parameters, implement the asthma guidelines nationally and improve patient education.

SUBMITTER: Lababidi H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3913077 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Asthma care practicing among general practitioners in Lebanon: a cross-sectional study.

Lababidi Hani H Abu-Shaheen Amani K AK Bou Mehdi Iyad A IA Al-Tannir Mohamad A MA

The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma 20131008 1

<h4>Objectives</h4>The aim of this study was to characterize the current practice of asthma among general practitioners (GPs) in Lebanon.<h4>Methods</h4>Out of 2450 Lebanese registered GPs, a representative sample of 330 were stratified by region to fill out the questionnaire constructed on the basis of surveys developed mainly by the Chicago Asthma Surveillance Initiative Report Team in newly moderate persistent asthma patients aged 5 years and above. The questionnaire included information abou ...[more]

PMID: 24024792

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Project description:BackgroundDue to differences of residency training programs' emphases - inpatient vs office-based - internal medicine and family medicine residents consistently reported differences in preparedness to care for common adult conditions. Study's aim was to add knowledge about procedures that a) are performed by general internists working in primary care and b) should be learned during residency in general internists' appraisal.MethodsA cross-sectional postal survey was carried out by using a questionnaire that comprised 90 procedures relevant in primary care. Each procedure implied the two questions "Do you perform this procedure in your own practice?" and "How important do you think it is to learn this procedure during residency?" The final questionnaire was sent to 1002 general internists working in primary care in Germany in May 2015. Data analysis was performed using SPSS Version 24.0 (SPSS inc., IBM). Next to descriptive statistics subgroup analyses were performed using cross tabulation and Chi-square tests for evaluation of differences in the performance of most frequently performed procedures in urban or rural areas as well as by male or female physicians.ResultsTwenty-eight percent of sent questionnaires (276/1002) could be included in analysis. Mean age of participants was 52 years with 13 years of practice experience; 40% were female. Twenty-nine (32%) of 90 given procedures were performed by at least half of the participants, foremost technical diagnostics, punctures, procedures of the integument and resuscitation. After Bonferroni correction, five of those procedures were performed by more male than female physicians and two procedures by more physicians working in a rural practice than physicians practicing in an urban location. Moreover, 46 (51%) procedures were assessed as important to learn during residency by at least 50% of participants.ConclusionsGeneral internists working in German primary care perform a narrow scope of procedures offered by primary care physicians. In order to provide best ambulatory care for patients, residency training programs must ensure training in procedures that are necessary for providing high quality care. Therefore, a consensus aligned with patients' and health-systems' needs on procedures required for working as a general internist in primary care is necessary.

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Project description:BackgroundIdentifying essential competencies in end-of-life care, as well as general practitioners' (GPs) confidence in these competencies, is essential to guide training and quality improvement efforts in this domain.AimTo determine which competencies in end-of-life care are considered important by GPs, to assess GPs' confidence in these competencies in a European context and their reasons to refer terminally ill patients to a specialist.Design and settingCross-sectional postal survey involving a stratified random sample of 2000 GPs in Switzerland in 2014.MethodSurvey development was informed by a previous qualitative exploration of relevant end-of-life GP competencies. Main outcome measures were GPs' assessment of the importance of and confidence in 18 attributes of end-of-life care competencies, and reasons for transferring care of terminally-ill patients to a specialist. GP characteristics associated with main outcome measures were tested using multivariate regression models.ResultsThe response rate was 31%. Ninety-nine percent of GPs considered the recognition and treatment of pain as important, 86% felt confident about it. Few GPs felt confident in cultural (16%), spiritual (38%) and legal end-of-life competencies such as responding to patients seeking assisted suicide (35%) although more than half of the respondents regarded these competencies as important. Most frequent reasons to refer terminally ill patients to a specialist were lack of time (30%), better training of specialists (23%) and end-of-life care being incompatible with other duties (19%). In multiple regression analyses, confidence in end-of-life care was positively associated with GPs' age, practice size, home visits and palliative training.ConclusionsGPs considered non-somatic competencies (such as spiritual, cultural, ethical and legal aspects) nearly as important as pain and symptom control. Yet, few GPs felt confident in these non-somatic competencies. These findings should inform training and quality improvement efforts in this domain, in particular for younger, less experienced GPs.

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Dataset Information

Asthma care practicing among general practitioners in Lebanon: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Asthma care practicing among general practitioners in Lebanon: a cross-sectional study.

Similar Datasets

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